No regrets over kicking BOD to touch

CONNACHT Rugby may not have had player representation during the British and Irish Lions’ tour of Australia but an unconventional tactic hatched in the province over two decades ago did get an airing Down Under – the 13-man lineout!

Lions boss Warren Gatland first trialled the all-in lineout, bar the hooker and scrum half, when he was coaching Connacht in the mid-nineties. On that occasion, the opposition was Australia at the Sportsground. They scored a try from it and the Aussies were seething and cried foul.

Fast forward to the third Lions test against Australia this Summer and Gatland’s charges tried it again. This time it didn’t produce a score but the Aussies were still seething – the 13-man lineout, as the Lions attempted to score a fifth try, showed the visitors’ disdain for their hosts.

“I was always interested in the laws of rugby and the game’s rules and how you use the laws of the game to do something that people don’t expect and that’s a little bit different,” said Gatland of its origins.

“I remember we did it with the Lions. It was the same discussion we had with the players when we tried it with Connacht. The players asked: ‘What if we lose the lineout? I said: ‘Man, wouldn’t that be exciting’,” he chuckles.

Gatland, a New Zealand native, who spent four seasons as player/coach of Galwegians from 1989, and former Connacht coach for a season in 1996/1997, became the first Lions coach to win a series in 16 years. You wouldn’t know it though.

Certainly not in Ireland where his decision to drop – shock, horror! – legend Brian O’Driscoll from the match-day squad caused widespread hysteria that has yet to abate. “Why would I regret the decision,” he asks. He sighs. A pregnant pause. Again, he asks – “Why would I?” Another pause.

“For me, selection is just a matter of opinion. That’s the beauty about sport . . . I didn’t take any enjoyment out of leaving Brian O’Driscoll out. It was a really, really tough decision to leave out somebody who is a legend of the game,” said Gatland adding he gave ‘BOD’ his first Ireland cap aged 19.

“It’s not a popularity contest. It’s about what you think is the correct decision and what’s best for the team,” he insists.

Fair enough but is Gatland worried that this decision – seen as treasonous among many Irish and particularly Leinster fans – will taint his legacy in this country? “Hopefully they’ll get over it,” he says.

“The thing I’ve struggled with is when it was almost like a personal attack or the conspiracy theories that it was an anti-Irish thing, or I was trying to get back at the IRFU or trying to get back at somebody else. That was just completely absurd. Hand on my heart, we picked what we thought was the best team for that game.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.