Warren Gatland has defended his Lions training methods and claimed he helped get Sean O’Brien into the “best shape of his life”.
The Wales coach has responded for the first time to criticism from Ireland and Lions flanker O’Brien that training routines were overdone in the build-up to the first Test against New Zealand this summer and that the tourists should have gone on to win rather than draw the series.
Gatland was stoutly defended by the Lions management after O’Brien’s remarks and it was suggested that coach and player may get to together to iron out their differences.
On Monday, Gatland confirmed he had tried to speak to O’Brien and said: “I left a message with Sean, he text me last week saying he’d just cleared his voicemail and I text him back saying he was more than welcome to give me a call at any stage.”
Asked whether a conversation was likely, he responded: “I don’t know, it’s up to him.
“But let’s be clear here. He had a fantastic tour, was brilliant in the way he played and says he was in the best shape of his life.
“But he didn’t train with us in the first week and had one session with us in the second week on tour because he was recovering from injury.
“So for him to be in the best shape of his life we must have done something right!
“He kept his body together, there’s no doubt he played exceptionally well but unfortunately picked up an injury in the third Test and had to come off at half-time. But I thought he was outstanding.”
On O’Brien’s disparaging comments of the Lions backs coach and Wales assistant Rob Howley, Gatland said: “In terms of the attack stuff I look at that as a compliment.
“When you have experienced players in the squad part of good coaching is allowing them to take ownership and responsibility.
“In a roundabout way he’s given Rob Howley a compliment.”
Ireland and Leinster flanker O’Brien played in all three Tests as the Lions claimed a creditable draw, having been widely written off before departing.
In the second Test in Wellington the Lions inflicted a first home defeat on New Zealand in 48 matches but O’Brien criticised the coaches’ methods in the buildup to the first Test – a 30‑15 defeat – and the series decider, which ended in a 15‑15 draw.
“I’d be pretty critical of it because I think we should have won the tour and we probably should have won it comfortably,” O’Brien said in an interview.
“The first week we definitely over-trained on the Thursday and maybe the coaches were panicking a little bit about getting the information into us. On the first week [of the first Test], we had a triple [session] day, lads’ legs were heavy on the Thursday and we were playing the All Blacks on Saturday.
“We did nearly a similar thing in the last week. So maybe it’s more [from] a coaching point of view, in terms of taking lessons. Less is more sometimes on a tour like that, rather than trying to pick things up at the end of the week.”
The Lions have won a series in New Zealand only once, in 1971, but O’Brien, who scored a memorable try in the first Test defeat, was convinced they should have won all three matches and reserved his most scathing criticism for Howley.
“If I was being critical of any coach it would be the fact that I think Rob struggled with the group in terms of his attributes of trying to get stuff across, whereas Johnny [Sexton] and Owen [Farrell] drove everything the second week,” he was quoted as saying in the Daily Mail.
