Gatland will tell O’brien to justify slurs on his work

Warren Gatland is to seek a meeting with Sean O’brien in an attempt to clarify the reasons behind the Ireland flanker’s fierce criticism of the British and Irish Lions’ coaching team during the drawn series with New Zealand.

Gatland, the Lions head coach, is thought to have been both

surprised and disappointed by O’brien’s comments, who claimed the Lions would have won the series 3-0 had it not been for the coaching methods on the tour.

O’brien criticised the training workloads and took issue with Rob Howley, the Lions backs coach, for supposedly allowing Jonathan Sexton and Owen Farrell to run the attack for the second Test. There is a sense of frustration among Lions staff that O’brien, as a member of

the senior players’ group, did not raise any of these issues during the tour, while claims that the coaching team “panicked” before the first Test by staging a triple training session are thought to be strongly disputed.

John Feehan, the Lions chief executive, last night defended Gatland and his coaching team of Howley, Andy Farrell, Steve Borthwick, Graham Rowntree and Neil Jenkins. “I think we had the best

coaching team available and they proved that in what we achieved,” said Feehan. “To draw a series with the All Blacks, who had not lost a Test match at home for eight years was a remarkable result.”

O’brien last night tried to clear up his position. “Some people have focused on what I feel we could have done better instead of what we did well,” he said. “I have nothing but respect for Warren and the whole coaching team.”