Sean O'Brien launches attack on British and Irish Lions coaches and singles out Rob Howley for misfiring plans

Sean O’Brien has launched a scathing assessment of the British and Irish Lions coaching team, and has singled out attack coach Rob Howley as one of the key reasons as to why the tourists failed to claim a 3-0 series whitewash.

The Lions claimed a credible 1-1 draw against the All Blacks during the summer after bouncing back from first Test defeat to win the second and draw the third, resulting in just the second time that the side has left New Zealand in 129 years without suffering a series defeat.

O’Brien started all three Tests, and scored what will be remembered as one of the great Lions tries in the first encounter as he finished an end-to-end move that brought Eden Park stadium to life. However, the Ireland centre was clearly unimpressed with the standard of coaching on the tour, with Warren Gatland’s team coming under criticism from the Leinster forward.

Asked if New Zealand’s 57-0 victory over South Africa last weekend in the Rugby Championship proves the draw was a good result, O’Brien told the Off The Ball podcast: “No. I think we should have won. With the players we had, we should have won the series.

“If we had a little more structure during the weeks and more of an attack game plan driven [from] way earlier in the tour we could have won 3-0.”

The 30-year-old Ireland international paid particular attention to Howley’s role as attack coach, and claimed that much of the Lions’ success was down to the two midfield options of Johnny Sexton and Owen Farrell, rather than the philosophy that the Wales coach tried to imprint.

“The coaches have a lot to answer for in terms of our attack. Johnny [Sexton] and Faz [Farrell] were the ones running our attack shape,” O’Brien added.

“If I was being critical of any coach it would be the fact that Rob [Howley] struggled with the group in terms of trying to get stuff across.

“Johnny and Owen drove everything in the second [Test] week, for instance, in our attack and had a better plan in place. So I don’t know if it was that people were not buying into what he [Howley] was about. That’s the hard thing about a Lions tour as well, getting everyone to listen to a coach that was probably set in his ways.

“Whether I am there or not in four years is a different story. Coaching-wise they need to make sure they have the best coaches in the best positions.”

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Much was made of how Gatland elected to train his side, with the final Test week involving a relaxation trip to Queenstown – the opposite end of New Zealand to where the decider was being played in Auckland – where the Lions squad did not train until Wednesday.

O’Brien believes this was a mistake, with Wednesday’s session proving particularly draining for the players before a long final practice on Thursday, and the Irishman feels their chances of winning the third Test reduced as a result, with the score ending 15-15 to draw the series.

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“The start of the week annoyed me a little bit,” said O’Brien. “We had a tough day on Wednesday, we had a longer day on Thursday and then you’re playing catch-up again with your body trying to get fresh for Saturday.

“They will probably take a lot of learnings from that, in terms of how they structured the week for us and made sure we were as fresh as possible. It didn’t really happen in the first week or last [Test] week.”