Gatland reverses stance on coaching British and Irish Lions

Wales head coach Warren Gatland has reversed his stance on coaching British and Irish Lions in the upcoming tour of South Africa in 2021.

Two weeks back, the 54-year-old ruled himself out of contention for the Lions job citing the criticism he received during the recently concluded tour of New Zealand.

"I'm done. I hated the tour. I did. I just hated the press and the negativity in New Zealand."

However, Gatland now is keen on taking in charge of the Lions once again after leading them to a 2-1 and 1-1 series results against Australia and New Zealand in 2013 and 2017 respectively.

"It's a hard job to turn down and walk away from," Gatland said in an interview with The Mail on Sunday.

"I made those comments about not wanting to do it again because I was pretty hurt.

"As far as me coaching the Lions again, never say never."

Ireland international Sean O'Brien had earlier criticised the coaching panel of Lions during the New Zealand tour and stated that with better preparations they could have won the series 3-0 but Gatland had hit back at the Leinster flanker.

"My thing to Sean is, if he can look himself in the mirror and say, 'I was the most professional person on tour, on and off the field, in New Zealand', in terms of the way he prepared himself, then I think his points would be more valid.

"I was disappointed with his comments. I thought him coming out and saying we should have won 3-0 was pretty disrespectful to New Zealand. That's where he lost his credibility.

"He came out and he was critical but what was his solution? There was nothing. It was words without a solution. If you are going to come out and say something, give us what the answer is."