Rob Kearney's hilarious boozy night out story after infamous lowpoint in Brian O'Driscoll's Lions career
EVEN stories about Brian O'Driscoll's darkest days tend to paint him in a good light.
So it proved as Rob Kearney recalled him getting dropped for the third Test of the British and Irish Lions' 2013 Tour of Australia.
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Kearney was a bit-part player in 2013 whereas he played a starring role on the 2009 Tour
Credit: Sportsfile
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There was outrage when Warren Gatland dropped O'Driscoll for the third Test against Australia
Credit: Sportsfile - Subscription
Kearney teed things up by recalling how when O'Driscoll was initially called to a meeting with head coach Warren Gatland, the assumption was that he was going to be made captain for it.
He cited how their fellow Ireland legend
Kearney told the
"All the players were shocked. But Brian mucked in to be fair to him.
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"Some of us went out for drinks that night and I texted him 'Are you coming down to the pub for a few pints?'
"But he replied 'No, I'm doing video analysis with Jonathan Davies'. So I responded 'You're a bigger man than me!'
"It was class of him because it would've been very easy for him to say 'Sod all of this, I'm going on the beer.'
"Especially because Twitter was around then so we were able to feel the absolute uproar and rage from back home here."
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Host Joe Molloy tacked on the point that it's not like the then 34-year-old had to keep in Gatland's good books in case he was in charge of the next Tour in 2017.
Ultimately, the Kiwi was able to point to the result in that third match-up with the Wallabies to justify his contentious selection call as they walloped their hosts 41-16 to secure a 2-1 series triumph.
'Cried like a baby didn't ya-' - Watch Andy Farrell embarrass Ireland star over reaction to Lions call-up
They had been pipped 16-15 in the previous encounter while they took the first battle 23-21.
Kearney predicted another 2-1 victory for the all-star squad in this summer's edition of the fabled rugby tradition.
Andy Farrell's outfit play the first of 10 total fixtures
Wednesday saw him
The prop has not played since
He is joined in the replacements by Rónan Kelleher, the only other Leinster player involved because they were involved in
There are still three Irish players in the starting XV with 2021 tourists Bundee Aki of Connacht and Munster's Tadhg Beirne included, along with Bealham.
Aki and Bealham's provincial teammate
Farrell has not included any Bath representatives with the side involved in the Premiership final against Leicester Tigers on Saturday.
Lions: M Smith (England), Freeman (England), Tuipulotu (Scotland), Aki (Ireland), van der Merwe (Scotland), F Smith (England), Mitchell (England), Genge (England), Cowan-Dickie (England), Bealham (Ireland), Itoje (England), Beirne (Ireland), Curry (England), Morgan (Wales), Earl (England).
Replacements: Kelleher (Ireland), Schoeman (Scotland), Furlong (Ireland), Cummings (Scotland), Pollock (England), Williams (Wales), Daly (England), Hansen (Ireland)
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