"We should have won 3-0 with the players we had. We should have won the series. Looking back, and I could be completely wrong, but if we had a little more structure during the weeks and more of an attack game plan, as such, driven way earlier in the tour, we could win 3-0."
Sean O'Brien blames coaching staff for drawn Lions series
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Sean O'Brien blames coaching staff for drawn Lions series
Ireland flanker Sean O'Brien has blamed the British & Irish Lions coaching staff for the tourists' failure to secure the three-Test series against the All Blacks this summer.
The 30-year-old played a massive role in all three Test matches against the reigning world champions. After suffering an opening Test defeat, the Lions roared back into life with a victory before the last Test in Eden Park ended in a 15-15 stalemate.
Although many observers believed the Lions should have been proud of their efforts, O'Brien disagreed with that theory and believes the squad did not prepare well enough for the first and last Test in Auckland.
He claimed the coaches overtrained the players prior to their high-intensity Tests' against the All Blacks.
"To be honest, I’d be pretty critical of it because I think we should have won the tour and we probably should have won it comfortably," O’Brien said in an interview with Newstalk.
"There’s the best players in the world on a Lions tour. I know you are playing the best team in the world but with the quality and strength in depth we had, we probably should have won the tour.
"It wasn’t down to fatigue. It was probably management a bit, in terms of how our weeks went.
The 2011 European Player of the Year singled out backs coach Rob Howley for particular criticism.
"If I was being critical of any coach it would be the fact that I think Rob struggled with the group in terms of his attributes of trying to get stuff across. Whereas Johnny and Owen drove everything the second week, for instance, in our attack and had a better plan in place."
