We look at four players that Lions head coach Warren Gatland controversially blacklisted from his 2021 squad, and the reported reason why.
#1. Joe Marler (England)
The two didn’t exactly see eye-to-eye during the 2017 tour of New Zealand with Marler himself admitting his ‘bulls*** behaviour’ put him out of contention for the 2021 installment.
“I don’t think I ever got close enough to blow smoke up his a***,” laughed Marler.
“I found him quite an awkward character, which says a lot really because I tend to surround myself with awkward characters!
He added: “To be fair, Gats has been on God knows how many Lions tours, won God knows how many trophies.
“Before the Lions, my first contact with him was him dropping me a message of support after Gypsy-Gate.
“It had all blown up and he said: ‘Don’t worry about it, keep your head down’ out of the blue.
“I’m sure he’s a good bloke and he’s got a good heart. It’s just a couple of my experiences of him were interesting to say the least. I don’t think he liked me and that’s probably fair.”