British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland has admitted that preparations in the lead up to the first test against New Zealand could have been better.
Upon arriving home from New Zealand, Sean O'Brien, who scored a try in that first test, was highly critical of his sides preparation for the first test against the All Blacks.
The Leinster player singled out backs coach Rob Howley for struggling to get his message across and that Johnny Sexton and Owen Farrell led the backs' preparations and attacking phases.
Gatland was speaking at the Stella Theatre, Rathmines, Dublin, last night at Off The Ball's Rugby Roadshow where he admitted he was disappointed with how the week panned out,
We were a bit heavy legged and I was a bit pissed off with myself reflecting and having a look back on our preparation for that first test. Not because of the training but we’d been in ten hotels in two weeks.
We had a good chat and I said I don’t have any problems with him, I just thought there was a better forum to address it than that.
Surprising but refreshing honesty from the New Zealander that he 'was a bit pissed off with myself' regarding their preparations but he would have preferred if the Tullow Tank aired his grievances to him, face-to-face.
The Wales coach admitted that he has a lot to learn from Declan Kidney on how to conduct press conferences in the lead up games.
If there's one man that can teach Warren Gatland the dark arts of the media scrum... 🇮🇪#OTBGatland @Heineken_IE pic.twitter.com/Jh2dQ00M5y
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) December 7, 2017
Hopefully this issue between the pair can go into cold storage until February when Wales travel to Dublin to take on Ireland in round three of the Six Nations Championship 2018.
Read Warren Gatland's full quotes here.
