Most Irish rugby fans can probably remember where they were when they learned the bombshell news of 2013: Brian O'Driscoll was out of the Lions squad for the final test against Australia.
Having started both of the opening two tests, it was widely expected that O'Driscoll would remain at 13 for the final, decisive test, with the series poised at 1-1.
However, head coach Warren Gatland pulled a complete left-field move, dropping the Ireland legend from the squad entirely.
It was a move which ultimately paid off with the Lions winning the series 2-1, though some Irish fans still hold it against Wales coach Gatland.
![Brian O'Driscoll Warren Gatland](https://img.resized.co/balls_ie/eyJkYXRhIjoie1widXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL21lZGlhLmJhbGxzLmllXFxcL3VwbG9hZHNcXFwvMjAyNFxcXC8wN1xcXC8xODE1MjM1N1xcXC84NDA2OTkuanBnXCIsXCJ3aWR0aFwiOlwiNzY4XCIsXCJoZWlnaHRcIjpcIjU0MFwiLFwiZGVmYXVsdFwiOlwiaHR0cHM6XFxcL1xcXC93d3cuYmFsbHMuaWVcXFwvaW1hZ2VzXFxcL2JyYW5kLWltYWdlLmpwZ1wiLFwib3B0aW9uc1wiOntcIm91dHB1dFwiOlwid2VicFwiLFwicXVhbGl0eVwiOjk5fX0iLCJoYXNoIjoiYmE4NzI5NWY2MTQ4NDU3Mjg1OWFjM2IxMmEzMzg0YWRiNDIwZDBjZSJ9/australia-legend-jokes-that-brian-o-039-driscoll-is-never-getting-final-lions-jersey-back.jpg)
6 July 2013; British & Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland, right, and Brian O'Driscoll following the game. British & Irish Lions Tour 2013, 3rd Test, Australia v British & Irish Lions. ANZ Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, Australia. Picture credit: Stephen McCarthy / SPORTSFILE
The man who came into the team in place of O'Driscoll, Jonathan Davies, appeared on the Kick Ons and Kick Offs podcast alongside a few legends of Australian rugby this week.
Davies said he was as blindsided as anyone by his surprise inclusion, revealing he had been taking it easy in the early part of the week prior, thinking his playing time on the tour was over.
It was then that Adam Ashley-Cooper, who played against the Lions on that Wallabies team, revealed how he inadvertently ended up with Brian O'Driscoll's final Lions jersey - and explained jokingly why the Irishman will never get it back.
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Adam Ashley-Cooper explains how he ended up with Brian O'Driscoll's Lions jersey
Ashley-Cooper was O'Driscoll's opposite number in the centre for the second test of the 2013 Lions tour.
Australia came out on top in a game of fine margins in Melbourne, with Ashley-Cooper himself scoring the decisive try with just six minutes left to play.
It was an amazing high on which to finish the game for Ashley-Cooper and the Wallabies, and the centre decided to chance his luck at nicking O'Driscoll's jersey.
The Aussie thought that his counterpart wouldn't mind parting with his jersey as he had another test still to play in the red of the Lions - an assumption which was ultimately proven wrong.
He was my opposing 13, we had won the game, I was feeling a little good, a little confident.
I actually went into the changing rooms to swap jerseys, thinking, 'He's clearly going to play next week, he'll be happy to give his jersey to me on the second [test].'
I was thinking that I wanted to get one of Brian O'Driscoll's last British & Irish Lions jerseys.
Anyway, he clearly gets dropped for someone a lot better looking [Davies chuckles] and I've got BOD's last Lions jersey and nobody knows about it.
Though O'Driscoll exchanged his jersey with Ashley-Cooper in a sign of mutual respect, the two have clashed in the years since.
A comment from O'Driscoll suggesting that Ashley-Cooper had moved to Bordeaux for money more than for rugby reasons did not go down well with the Wallaby.
Hi @BrianODriscoll. Regarding the below... I disagree. Strongly. pic.twitter.com/mUq9YY2uzv
— Adam Ashley-Cooper (@AdamCoopy) December 20, 2015
On this week's podcast, Ashley-Cooper went on to joke that their 2015 disagreement meant he would not be returning the jersey to his Irish counterpart.
Since he had a crack at me for going to France and apparently cashing it in, he's not getting it back.
It's in a box in storage somewhere.
The 2013 Lions series may not necessarily be the fondest of personal memories for Brian O'Driscoll, but for such a significant jersey to be sitting in storage in Australia is certainly a strange way for his career in red to have concluded.