Mike Brown was omitted from Warren Gatland's 41-man Lions squad to tour New Zealand this summer, and the extremely unpopular fullback is not best pleased about it.
To be fair to the 31-year-old Harlequins man, he's been in fine form for the best part of two seasons, if not quite back to his 2013/2014 best - perhaps not dissimilar to Leigh Halfpenny, in that sense.
Halfpenny, Stuart Hogg, Jared Payne, Liam Williams and Anthony Watson are the fullback options ahead of him in Gatland's squad, and Brown reckons his exclusion is a disservice to his form since 2015.
Speaking to The Rugby Paper, Brown expressed his displeasure at the decision, and revealed that he's unlikely to even by on standby should another 15 fall in New Zealand:
I didn’t take it well. I was gutted.
I feel I’ve played really well from 2015 onwards so it was really disappointing to get the call, but you can’t let one man’s decision define you.
It’s really disappointing for guys like myself, James Haskell and Dylan Hartley because we probably won’t get another opportunity.
I’ve had no feedback about being on standby either, which is also disappointing, so I’m not going to keep up false hopes.
Brown has 10 tries in 60 Tests for England, and has dotted down 52 times in 189 games for 'Quins.
