Warren Gatland has defended a recent newspaper column that saw him not select a single Welsh player in a hypothetical British and Irish Lions matchday squad.
The Wales coach was asked to pick a Lions matchday 23 in his Telegraph column shortly after a testing Six Nations that saw Wales win just once amid talk of a split in camp over potential strike action.
At the time, three-time Lions head coach Gatland wrote: “I would not have any of my Wales players in the 23. It is simply a reflection of where we are as a team right now. I thought we improved as the Six Nations went on, but we still have a long way to go.”
