Warren Gatland’s decision to drop Brian O’Driscoll is his stupidest decision to date so far this tour, and that’s really saying something.
Warren Gatland has picked 10 Welshmen in his starting line-up for what is turning out to be a particularly controversial Lions tour, and the decision to leave the second most-capped player in history out of the starting line-up, let alone the entire matchday 23, is a shocker.
There wasn’t even a spot on the bench for O’Driscoll as Gatland looks to reinstall his ‘Warrenball’ style of play by picking a fit-again Jamie Roberts to start and moving Jonathon Davies from inside to outside centre.
For those who don’t know, Warrenball relies on every player to be a backrow-style runner, except fullback and fly-half whose jobs are to kick goals and kick for territory.
It relies on advantage line dominance through big runners, and it is bereft of creativity with most phases being set up one off the ruck from halfback Mike Phillips.
British and Irish media and fans are split on the call, with some saying that it’s a tough choice that had to be made and others saying that while O’Driscoll has had a quiet series, it’s hard to play yourself into form when the ball doesn’t get past the fly-half.
Jonathon Davies hasn’t exactly been setting the tour alight either especially in defence where his four missed tackles to O’Driscoll’s one will have Adam Ashley-Cooper licking his lips.
Additionally, O’Driscoll plays the link role better than Davies by receiving the ball in midfield and passing it wider, so it’s safe to assume that if George North and Tommy Bowe want to do anything other than chase kicks they had better come inside looking for the ball.
The 2009 Lions centre pairing of Roberts and O’Driscoll worked beautifully, and many Lions fans were hoping to finally see it in Sydney after the injury to Roberts robbed them of it in the first two Tests.
One thing that is certain is that the Lions will be very short of leadership in Sydney on Saturday night.
The Welsh lock Alun Wyn Jones has been named captain having only played one Test as captain for Wales versus Italy in 2009, and is considered the third-choice Welsh captain behind the injured duo of Sam Warburton and Gethin Jenkins.
He was known as a bit of a hot-head early in his career with Gatland publicly criticising the player after he received a yellow card for a trip at Twickenham in 2010. In the time he was off the field England scored 17 points on their way to a 30-17 victory.
Wyn Jones has been fantastic so far this series, and the captaincy could benefit his own game or adversely it could hinder it, but with O’Driscoll as captain you eliminate that risk factor.
Current Irish captain Jamie Heaslip has also been dropped in favour of the larger, direct-running Toby Faletau in what is a huge, traditional northern hemisphere-style backrow.
The Lions are now left with a team that has very limited natural leadership ability at the top level with Wyn Jones, halfback Mike Phillips and fly-half Jonny Sexton the only players in the 23 who exude these characteristics.
When you compare this to the Wallabies leadership group of Horwill, Genia, Moore and Ashley-Cooper, the Wallabies have a clear advantage in this department.
What a boost the Lions would have got with Brian O’Driscoll, the best northern hemisphere player of his generation, giving the team talk before they ran out for the decider.
During O’Driscoll’s career, even when he has been out of form, he has had a knack of getting the best out of his players, coming up with big plays and making good decisions, particularly against Australia.
Aussie fans will remember his try to snatch a 20-all draw at Croke Park in 2009 with the last play of the game, as he glided untouched through a gap just like he has done so many times throughout his career.
Lions fans will be shuddering to think what will happen if their side are faced with the same decision that James Horwill was faced with last week.
Horwill made the decision to turn down the three points to go for a late scrum, and it paid off, but those decisions need to be made confidently and decisively otherwise doubt can start to creep in.
While nobody doubted that both Sean O’Brien and Toby Faletau have been missed and deserved a shot, I don’t think anyone saw that both would be in the starting line-up.
Onto the bench comes Manu Tuilagi, another player under an injury cloud, who will be cover for Jamie Roberts should his hamstring not go the distance.
Mobile forwards Richie Gray and Justin Tipuric join Tuilagi on the new look bench and will come on late to provide extra mobility and workrate.
The final 20 minutes will be a huge concern to Gatland as it has been the period where Australia have dominated possession in the first two Tests, and with the tight backrow he’s selected for this Test he will want to be ahead on the scoreboard coming into the final period.
Dublin Dave
Guest
Happy to take that one on, KiwiDave, First off, I'm delighted that the Lions won. I am not one of those Irish fans, identified by Spiro Zavos in an article he wrote in Another Place, who had switched allegiance to the Wallabies in response to O'Driscoll's axing. In fact, I suspect most of them, if there were that many to begin with, were fair weather rugby fans at best or downright hostile to the code at worst. However, I am still disgusted by the dropping of O'Driscoll. I thought it was mean spirited, undeserved and unnecessary and so, one can hardly complain if I assess Mr Gatland's performance in similar spirit. Gatland used to coach Ireland. He is a very good second-rate coach, or at least a good man to coach a second rate team. He can take a team of no hopers and give them some focus and purpose, get them to play above themselves and upgrade their status from whipping boys to gallant losers. In his first eight Five/Six Nations games (his tenure spanned the transition) in his first three seasons, Ireland lost seven. In that time too, they had their most disastrous World Cup campaign to date failing to qualify for the quarter finals for the first time ever. But they gave France a fright in Paris and put up good performances against England a couple of times. Gatland favours a tight game based on disciplined forward performances and kicking out halves. His main tactical innovation, if such it could be called, was the 14-man lineout which Ireland used with mixed results during his tenure. And you may have noticed it was something the Lions themselves deployed on more than one occasion in this series. He distrusts talent in the backs. He prefers to stifle it. If he were an Italian, his name would be Trapattoni. But he was lucky. His tenure in Ireland coincided with the arrival of a golden generation of players (O'Driscoll, Hickie, Horgan, O'Gara, Hayes, Wallace) but when it became obvious that he couldn't get the best out of them he was pushed out and his conniving but innovative backs coach Eddie O'Sullivan promoted in his stead. Fast forward to this series. It was obvious to everyone that the Lions best hope of beating Australia lay in taking them on up front. In fact, that's usually most people's best hope of beating Australia. Even the Australian press had spotted it before the tour began with their comments about "Slabs of red meat". The Third test was won by the forwards. The key changes from the second test were Corbisiero at prop, and O'Brien and Falatou in the back row. Two of the changes were forced, or facilitated by injuries. But if Corbisiero's return from injury was so vital, then how come he wasn't even on the tour at the outset? And if O'Brien, a slab of red meat if ever there was one (I love him :) ) was such an influential choice then what does it say about Gatland's choice of tour captain, whose injury gave O'Brien his chance in the first place? "Bold decision making?" My backside. The centres in this test series were relegated to defensive roles only. Such attacking play as came from the Lions backline was sparked by their back three of Halfpenny, North and Bowe. I don't recall Roberts or Davies touching the ball much in the match at all. So perhaps it would have made no difference who played centre for the Lions. But why drop O'Driscoll and conversely, why make a fuss about it if it were such a "by the way" part of the whole game plan? Am I just being unnecessarily curmudgeonly and mean spirited? Maybe. If I were a Kiwi my name would be Gatland. The answer is that sport needs its fairy tales, its morality plays, its dreams come true. It doesn't ALWAYS provide them, but it offers the chance that such things might occur. That's part of why we watch it. O'Driscoll deserved the opportunity to be part of a first Lions test series win in his career. He had done nothing to deserve to get dropped, He might have contributed nothing of note during the game, although JAmie Roberts' late try was straight out of the O'Driscoll playbook. He was cheated of the chance to do that and it leaves me with a sour aftertaste. But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the overall meal.
Tiptackler
Guest
Guess again. I was way off on the scoreline, and I'll eat humble pie in that regard no problem, seasoned with a fair bit of crow from the other side of the "debate", but forward dominance won that match, Davies played well (especially given the massive spotlight the poor guy was under) but I didn't see him do anything that BOD couldn't have done in his place.
KiwiDave
Roar Guru
Guess a hell of a lot of people who got stuck into Gatland for dropping BOD and injecting some spark into their backline in his place got to eat a lot of humble pie this morning. Wonder if they will be as gracious is their messages of congratulations as they were in their messages slamming him for dropping BOD
Lions-fan
Guest
What an awesome day, lions victorious Gatland completely vindicated ... Or do the doubters still think he got it wrong?!!
Mike the Lion
Guest
Humble pie, clowns. Get it down you. And I'm not really referring to the Aussies. It's you stinking excuses for men that have vilified Gatland for making the tough calls. Where are you now? Oh yeah, debating by how much more we'd have won if BOD had been on?
Jerry
Guest
Rassie - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4CrKAFIqlo
Tiptackler
Guest
Except that Justin Tipuric has been the form 7 in Wales for the entirety of this season and yet is consistently overlooked in favour of Warbs by Gatland.
Ozee316
Guest
Defier Pariah I would agree with Dave that once he got on a roll he got overrated and over-hyped leading to him getting more awards. Remember he was Ireland's ONLY good player for a long time so they pushed him out in front and he got so much press.
Ozee316
Guest
Captains must first be able to retain their starting position. Gatland said that and it is true.
Ozee316
Guest
I agree with KPM - I have never really seen what all the hype was about. I think it's good the Lions coach is not from the UK so he was able to select based on form. The Welsh team deserves to dominate the Lions. There are a couple of very good centres in South Africa, Tuialigi is strong, Conrad Smith. Centres need to make breaks, have solid defence and find gaps to pass to their outsides. All the above can do that we'll.
Intotouch
Guest
How are people in Britain and Ireland divided over this decision? From what I'm reading and hearing there's general agreement that this decision is nuts. I'd say about one person in 20 defends this decision. Most of them Welsh. Making this decision means that Gatland doesn't think that he needs a captain or that the players need a clear leader on the pitch. Stats-wise O'Driscoll is one behind Davies on carries and ahead on tackles. Advantage Wallabies.
Garth
Guest
Well at least the Wallabies aren't playing Scotland......
fredstone
Guest
This selection is gonna do the wallabies a world of good, especially in preparation for the rugby champs, getting to play the inferior version of Meyer ball.
Pick & Go..!!
Guest
Smith & Bod are two of my favorite players in this past decade. Both took the rugby world by storm in 2001. I just would of loved to see two legends bow out of the sport, & face each other in what is probably there last test match..
Defier Pariah
Guest
Well I disagree Dave. Like I said before its like trying to tell a golf fan that Tiger Woods isnt a great golf player. Individual Awards 6 Nations All time top try scorer with 26 tournament tries. 6 Nations Player of the Year – 2006, 2007, 2009. 6 Nations Top try scorer – 2009 (tied with Riki Flutey). European Cup Top try scorer – 2009. Shortlisted for IRB International Player of the Year 3 times – 2001, 2002, 2009. Named on ERC European Dream Team (to mark the first 15 years of the Heineken Cup). IRB International Try of the Year 2008 ( Australia v Ireland). IRUPA Players' Player of the Year – 2008/09. Texaco Sportstars Rugby Award – 2000, 2002, 2007, 2009. 'Rugby World' magazines' Player of the Decade. Named on 'Rugby World' magazines' Team of the Decade. English Rugby Union Writers' Club Pat Marshall Memorial Award as the sport's outstanding personality for 2009. Highest try scoring centre in internationals of all time.
Defier Pariah
Guest
No I did Rassie because you mentioned speed when his replacement is slower than him. His replacement at 13 is Davies.
Garth
Guest
Conrad Smith.
Garth
Guest
Probably not too many....
zigzag
Guest
ah no!
Rassie
Roar Rookie
No way. Adi Jacobs made them all look like schoolboys Yours sincerely P.Divvy