Cape Town - All Black flyhalf Dan Carter believes the British and Irish Lions have made a big mistake by dropping Brian O'Driscoll for Saturday's final Test against Australia in Sydney.
The Irish legend was ruthlessly axed from the deciding third match by coach Warren Gatland, who included a record-equalling 10 Welsh players in his starting line-up.
The 34-year-old Leinster centre was hoping to crown his fourth Lions tour by helping the tourists to win their first series in 16 years, but instead of winning his 134th Test cap he will have to be content with cheering from the sidelines.
O'Driscoll took over the captaincy last week in Melbourne when skipper Sam Warburton left the field injured. With Warburton ruled out, O'Driscoll was tipped to take over as captain, but Gatland opted to make lock Alun Wyn Jones captain instead.
And Carter was quick to express his support for O'Driscoll on Twitter on Wednesday, writing: "There must be some angry Irish out there waking up to see @BrianODriscoll not playing this weekend. #ShouldBeTheCaptain."
The clash at the ANZ Stadium kicks off at 12:00 (SA time) on Saturday.
The Lions won the first Test 23-21 in Brisbane, before the Wallabies levelled matters in Melbourne last week with a 16-15 win.
Teams:
Australia:
TBA
British and Irish Lions:
15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North,10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Alun Wyn Jones (captain), 3 Adam Jones, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Alex Corbisiero
Substitutes: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Richie Gray, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Owen Farrell, 23 Manu Tuilagi
The Irish legend was ruthlessly axed from the deciding third match by coach Warren Gatland, who included a record-equalling 10 Welsh players in his starting line-up.
The 34-year-old Leinster centre was hoping to crown his fourth Lions tour by helping the tourists to win their first series in 16 years, but instead of winning his 134th Test cap he will have to be content with cheering from the sidelines.
O'Driscoll took over the captaincy last week in Melbourne when skipper Sam Warburton left the field injured. With Warburton ruled out, O'Driscoll was tipped to take over as captain, but Gatland opted to make lock Alun Wyn Jones captain instead.
And Carter was quick to express his support for O'Driscoll on Twitter on Wednesday, writing: "There must be some angry Irish out there waking up to see @BrianODriscoll not playing this weekend. #ShouldBeTheCaptain."
The clash at the ANZ Stadium kicks off at 12:00 (SA time) on Saturday.
The Lions won the first Test 23-21 in Brisbane, before the Wallabies levelled matters in Melbourne last week with a 16-15 win.
Teams:
Australia:
TBA
British and Irish Lions:
15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North,10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Alun Wyn Jones (captain), 3 Adam Jones, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Alex Corbisiero
Substitutes: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Richie Gray, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Owen Farrell, 23 Manu Tuilagi