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Lions boss Gatland would welcome call from disgruntled Brown

(Photo by Getty Images)

Warren Gatland says he would be happy to explain to Mike Brown or any of the other players who failed to make the British and Irish Lions squad why they were omitted.

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England full-back Brown took a dig at Gatland after the Lions head coach left him out of a party of 41 for the tour of New Zealand.

The experienced Brown felt he had done enough over the last two years to have made the cut for the huge challenge of taking on the All Blacks, saying he was “gutted” to miss out and “didn’t take it well”.

Gatland on Monday revealed that he has not spoken to Brown, but would be prepared to answer a call if the Harlequins man wants to take him to task.

“I haven’t spoken to Mike Brown. I spoke to Graham Rowntree and he said he spoke to Mike about the Lions,” the New Zealander said.

“I can understand the frustration and disappointment. I’m more than happy for him to give me a call if he feels that he’s been hard done by.

“There’s a number of players in the same situation and I think that’s why we said if any player wants to call us or talk to any of the coaches we are more than happy to take that.

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“When we select a squad and make a decision on players it’s not always about the rugby content.”

Gatland also stated that the Lions coaching staff do not have a list of back-up players set in stone if and when there is a need to call for reinforcements.

“As coaches we’ve put sort of a back-up group together, or at least we’ve discussed a group of players, but everyone who is on tour at the moment I see as being part of that potential back-up list to be called in,” said Gatland.

“If you look at the history of the Lions, six to 10 players get replaced. So there are six to 10 players there who are probably going to be called in at some stage on this tour, so be prepared, be ready, if you get that opportunity to come out.”

Watch every game of the Lions Tour of NZ streaming live on rugbypass.com, home of the best online rugby coverage including news, highlights, previews & reviews, live scores, and more!

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J
JW 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson explains the new halves pairing for the All Blacks ahead of France

More indecision and excuses from Razor.


You've given a spot at 6 to Finau whom you haven't even had the courage to use off the bench in the last two games. Now the young enforcer is going into a big much with no rugby, we should expect a similar result to how Aumua struggled to impact a game after he'd hardly been given any chances of the bench either.


Weve now dropped a back three player who also wasn't even given any game time off the bench for someone coming in cold when they really need to have been playing constantly to perform at their best. There are just so many better pictures that should have been present rather than this mickey mouse selection.


I really hope Finau can overcome this, it won't be the first time he's had to. How is the bench even made up? Could you not just have included these changes in the article as well? I actually like BB coming back in, it highlights how courageous he is after sitting out through another concussion that could just as easily sent him back into months of symptoms again.


Dmac was also off his game last week, as was Ratima, with the poor platform Razor and his team have been setting the players up with. He needs to freedom to clear his mind from the clutter that saw him make so many bad decisions last week. It will still probably be a net loss for the team performance not having him on from the start but it should be better for them in the long run if he's allowed to just come on late and play his game trying to claw things back for the team.


With Roigard starting that might prove an outlet for the team to actually get on top first however. Along with Ardie busting a gut in his new role and emptying the tank by halftime, and being replaced by another new star, might mean that Dmac is just icing on the cake at the end.

13 Go to comments
F
Flankly 1 hour ago
Jake White: If I was England coach, I’d have been livid

I am not an England fan, but still very disappointed at what Borthwick is serving up. Regardless of winning or losing, they should be executing the basics at a world class level. That was the reason they replaced Eddie with Steve. After two years England has not built the solid foundations that the RFU were presumably after. Its hard to see it as anything other than a coaching problem.


Having said that I really hope that Rassie has got his team fired up for the game. The Boks at maximum intensity and with no crises (eg red cards) would be expected to win this game. But it does not take much reduction in pressure for Bok teams to lose. The Boks lose when complacency sets in.


On Felix Jones, my guess is that they can't agree on a non-compete so they kept him on payroll for the duration of the Nov tests. The risk was that he would be hired by Rassie or Razor prior to the tests.


As relates to law tweaking, it feels like WR are more comfortable discussing changes in laws than insisting on implementation. For my money the biggest thing they could do is to be strict and consistent in officiating ruck behavior. In every game we see flopping, lazy lying, clearing of unbound players, making plays while off your feet, delays in placing the ball, side entry, offside line infringements, and similar nonsense. It's really really bad, and the WR attitude seems to be that we should turn a blind eye in pursuit of "flowing rugby". In truth it's just boring, because it randomizes the outcome.

11 Go to comments
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