Brian O’Driscoll names his 2029 Lions coach and opens up on the 2013 selection axe moment that ‘really wounded me’
Brian O'Driscoll on the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour
Brian O’Driscoll has recalled the moment that “really wounded” him in the aftermath of learning he had been dropped by British and Irish Lions boss Warren Gatland for the series-deciding third Test against the Wallabies in 2013. He has also named his pick to lead the Lions against the All Blacks in 2029.
The legendary Ireland midfielder is currently back in Sydney, 12 years after the Lions selection axe fell on him and ignited a controversy that lit up the rugby world at the time.
It was in Noosa, a Sunshine Coast resort in south Queensland, where O’Driscoll got the tap on the shoulder and learned out of the blue that the fit-again Jamie Roberts would combine with Jonathan Davies in the third Test midfield.
Reflecting on the traumatic week that followed his dropping, O’Driscoll claimed he was “the good pro” in everything he did in the lead-up to the series finale in Sydney.
“A bit of a fraud…”
He trained without letting his disappointment affect his commitment, he enthusiastically coached kids at a community event, and he also avoided having a drink at a family dinner on the Thursday night just in case he might be a late call-up to the team.
“That really wounded me,” he said in an interview with The Telegraph. “They don’t even need me to hold the tackle bags. It knocked me for six because I wanted to still feel part of it, to feel like I was still adding value in some shape or form. That Friday was a long day.”
So was Saturday night as O’Driscoll felt “a bit of a fraud” with the Lions celebrating the win that clinched the series 2-1. “I didn’t want to be walking around with the trophy or be in photographs. I only had two-thirds ownership of it.
“I couldn’t force it. If you are not on the field even for a couple of minutes, you feel a bit of a fraud. You have to have had an involvement; you have to have added value.
“Cheering from the stands was not something I had been used to doing for 14 years before that. It was an unusual feeling. The lads went on and won well and the selections were justified…
“When I look back now, it doesn’t sting anymore, but it probably took a couple of years for me to stop thinking, ‘I really wanted to have been part of that’. Now it has zero impact, but jeez, you would want it to be like that 12 years later.”
Back in Australia as an ambassador for Howden Insurance, the principal partner of the Lions tour, O’Driscoll is now enjoying being in the stands. He claimed that 2025 head coach Andy Farrell will be a shoo-in to lead the 2029 trip to New Zealand if a 3-0 series sweep is secured against the Wallabies.
“Three-nil would be real foot-on-the-throat stuff, and Farrell will want that. From all the sound bites, the players have loved this tour,” he said.
“Andy is infectious with creating a great environment, a fun environment and a competitive environment, and so if it ain’t broke, why would you go and try and reinvent things and find an alternative if he was interested again, which I’m sure he would be.”
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