Warren Gatland says that the decision to drop Brian O'Driscoll for the Lions final tour game of Australia nearly four years ago was not easy.
In a video on the Lions YouTube channel, Gatland said the decision was made especially tough as he had given O'Driscoll his first cap for Ireland 14 years earlier and then had to deliver the news that the centre was being dropped for the first time.
Gatland added that he has plenty of admiration for O'Driscoll because of how he conducted himself after being dropped.
Forget about winning the third test and forget about the difficult decision that was made. The most impressive thing about that was the way Brian O'Driscoll handled himself. I don't think he's got enough credit for that.
He could have come out and slagged me off. He released a book after, I'm sure there was a lot of pressure on him to talk about the incident. The way he kept his council and his professionalism and the way he handled himself, I've got a huge amount of respect for him for that.
As the great player he was and the top sportsman he was, I know he was hurting about not being selected. He was incredibly impressive about responding to that disappointment and showing his true character.
