Faletau takes criticism with a pinch of salt

British and Irish Lions number eight Taulape Faletau refuses to pay too much attention to criticism unless it’s from teammates, coaches or family.

Faletau impressed in the Lions’ underwhelming 13-7 victory over the Provincial New Zealand Barbarians. He made crucial metres every time he took the ball up in contact and made a heroic try-saving tackle.

Former All Blacks number eight Zinzan Brooke has been particularly scathing of Faletau, saying he lacked the ‘mongrel edge’ to front up to the All Blacks.

But Faletau is unruffled by these comments and prefers to listen to those he deems important such as his father.

‘I’m not here to answer anybody, I’m here for my team-mates on the pitch, I’m here for the squad, I’ll do anything for them,’ Faletau told the Daily Mail.

‘Anyone can say what they want, but I’m here as myself and I’ll take my judgement from my team-mates and no one else.

‘I definitely do listen to the players around me, my coaches and my family as well. I don’t really take too much notice of anyone outside that. Sometimes I do get a telling-off from my family!

‘Personally, I speak to my dad before every game, and he tells me about one thing or whatnot. But it’s great for us to talk like that, and I really appreciate getting advice like that from him.

‘If I were to have criticism from my dad, then I would definitely listen to that. That can really keep me grounded. He’s not going to shy away from saying what he thinks and telling the truth.

‘If there’s something he’s not happy with, attitude-wise or something I’m doing in the game, he’ll definitely let me know.’

Faletau produced a masterful try-saving tackle to deny Inga Finau what seemed a certain score in the first half of a disappointing Lions performance.

‘There’s not much to talk about to be honest,’ said Faletau of that tackle.

‘I was just tracking back, they made the line-break. It was a two-on-one, and I gave a chase and managed to get back.

‘Hopefully it helped, but we’ll just take the result and move on.

‘My dad won’t say too much about this game, his focus is always to say ‘forget the things that have just gone, concentrate on what’s coming next and get ready for that, and see what you can do better.’