O'Driscoll not over 'spear' tackle - physically or mentally

Lions captain Brian O'Driscoll is still licking his wounds. Picture / Mark Mitchell

Lions captain Brian O'Driscoll's anger of nearly four months ago may have subsided, but the embers are still smouldering.

He is still nearly two months away from recovery from the "spear" tackle that put him out for nearly the entire Lions tour of New Zealand.

The right shoulder he dislocated in that tackle early in the first test will certainly rule him out of next month's home test against the All Blacks.

He will know more about his likely return to action after he has visited his specialist in Dublin this week, but he is resigned to missing Ireland's autumn internationals and Leinster Lions' start to the Heineken Cup this month.

The shoulder is mending satisfactorily, but the centre refused to be pinned down to a target date, beyond saying that he hoped to start work again in four to six weeks.

"I still do stand by the fact that I was a bit surprised that nothing ever did come of it [the tackle]," O'Driscoll told the Times.

He said the incident in which All Blacks captain Tana Umaga and hooker Keven Mealamu drove him into the Jade Stadium turf ended his tour only a minute into the first of the three internationals.

It is likely that both players will be included in the New Zealand party that will arrive in Great Britain late this month in search of a grand slam.

"I have to accept there was no malice in it," O'Driscoll said drily, "but a bad tackle is a bad tackle. I have been on both sides of that situation and they have to be punished. That didn't quite happen.

"I got an apology of sorts from Tana three or four days after it happened and Keven said there had been no intent after the third test. I'm sure they were regretful it happened."

If Umaga plays against Ireland on November 12, the reaction of the home fans - "they're quite patriotic" - will be instructive.

Meanwhile, the failure of the Lions is in the air again in Wales after critical comments of the management made by Gavin Henson, who was overlooked for the first test against the All Blacks.

Henson has a book out. So does O'Driscoll at the end of this month - A Year in the Centre, its publication coming after expiry of the deadline to which all the Lions squad signed up, agreeing not to comment on the tour.

The comments that appear in his book acknowledge that mistakes were made, as opposed to Henson's adverse remarks on coach Sir Clive Woodward's coaching style.

O'Driscoll's view was that if anyone had a complaint over another individual, they should say as much to his face, a stance with which another senior player, Jason Robinson, agreed.

"I knew how a lot of the management operated ... but if you are not used to certain characters, personalities, it can rub you up the wrong way," Robinson said.

"I truly believed we had a genuine chance of going down to New Zealand and winning the series," O'Driscoll said, "and when you look back, we didn't get so many components right to enable us to do that.

"Clive was the man who had won a World Cup, he had the experience and I was there to back him up and get across what he wanted to do."

Woodward blamed the short time he had with the Lions.

"With the England team I made mistakes but you have time to fix them. With the Lions we had to get everything 100 per cent right. You have to be lucky with injuries which we weren't.

"I can be very philosophical about it. We all did our best and we just have to accept it."

- NZPA