O'Driscoll resents Gatland

Ireland and Lions centre Brian O'Driscoll has revealed that he still resents head coach Warren Gatland for dropping him in Australia.

Ireland and Lions centre Brian O'Driscoll has revealed that he still resents head coach Warren Gatland for dropping him.

O'Driscoll was left out of the squad for the third Test against the Wallabies in Sydney, on what would have been his final appearance in the famous jersey.

A veteran of four Lions tours, O'Driscoll's omission was initially deemed controversial, before the Lions went on to win 41-16.

O'Driscoll's replacement, Jonathan Davies, received abusive messages on Twitter following the decision.

Now entering his final season with Leinster and Ireland before retirement, O'Driscoll has admitted that the disappointment from missing out on the final Test still lingers.

“Do I resent him? Yeah, there's resentment of course,” O'Driscoll told Sky Sports' Rugby Club, which airs tonight at 8pm local time. “Is he on the Christmas card list? – unlikely.

“When you're left with disappointment that way, you can't but feel a little bit of resentment, you know.

“People will say the decision was justified because of the results and the performance, I guess. The way the team played I felt within the 13 jersey that I might have been able to do a decent job within that part of the team the way they played in that game.

“That's absolutely not taking anything away from Jonathan's performance; I thought he was pretty good that day, made some big plays at important times.

“But I guess it comes back to you backing yourself, feeling you too could have done some things that maybe others didn't do on the day.”