Remember how you felt when you woke up to learn Brian O'Driscoll had been dropped for the third Lions test? Well, today we've woken up to an even bigger bombshell.
The senior analyst will not be in his usual chair nearest Bill O'Herlihy Darragh Maloney on Friday night. The youthful pretender Richie Sadlier has been promoted to the first team for this week's game.
We're used to seeing RTE studios without John Giles during afternoon World Cup games when New Zealand face off against Paraguay. But for a prime time event like Friday. We thought we'd never see it.
As is the way with these things, we initially suspected that Gilesy must have picked up an injury of some description, preventing him giving his best in the analyst's chair. But it appears there is no such injury.
RTE issued this rather bland statement in an attempt to calm matters.
The panel is chosen for each match on a case-by-case basis with lots of different criteria – availability, particular expertise in a team or match etc.
It’s certainly not the case that Richie’s ‘in’ for John, Richie brings his own knowledge and experience to every panel he’s on.
