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Eddie O'Sullivan has 'lost respect' for Warren Gatland over comments

Former Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan has said that he has 'lost respect' for Warren Gatland afte...



Rugby

Eddie O'Sullivan has 'lost respect' for Warren Gatland over comments


Former Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan has said that he has 'lost respect' for Warren Gatland after comments made about him.

In an interview with OTB Sports in 2017, Gatland relayed a story from his time as Ireland coach in 2001.

Warren Gatland

“Donal Lenihan said to me a number of years later, the day that Brian [O’Driscoll] scored the three tries and we beat France in Paris for the first time in 27 years – Donal said to me ‘I want to tell you a story about that day’," Gatland told Ger Gilroy.

“He said ‘I’ve never told you this’, and I said ‘Oh, what’s that?’ He said that we were in the changing rooms, and everyone was celebrating and having a good time, and Eddie was sitting in the corner.

“So Donal went over to him and said: ‘What’s wrong with you, why aren’t you celebrating?’ And Eddie said to Donal, ‘Ah, this means Gatland’s going to be in the job for another two years.’

“When I got told that, when Donal told me that story, it kind of summed up a few things.'"

Eddie O'Sullivan spoke about his reaction to the comments that were repeated in RugbyPass also.

“The thing I find extraordinary about this,” O’Sullivan told The XV, “is that Warren has said this kind of thing in interviews; he said it on Off The Ball too.

"We have met and spoken on a couple of occasions since 2001. But everything he has said publicly, he has never said to my face. I’ve lost respect for him for doing that.

“I’d respect him more if he had confronted me. But by speaking about me publicly, when I’m not there to defend myself, it says more about him than it does about me.”

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Eddie O'Sullivan Gatland Ger Gilroy Lions