British and Irish Lions centre Jonathan Davies has revealed that he was a victim of abuse on Twitter after he was selected ahead of Brian O’Driscoll in the final Lions Test against Australia.
Davies has revealed that he was subjected to verbal abuse and threats after coach Warren Gatland dropped O’Driscoll for the third and deciding Test match.
Regular Lions captain Sam Warburton was injured in the second Lions Test and ruled out of the final Test which led to speculation that O’Driscoll would captain the team but instead he was dropped out of the team which was met with shock around the globe.
The Wales and Scarlets centre was selected to play alongside his Welsh country man Jamie Roberts in Sydney and was one of the stand out performers on the tour.
Several high profile commentators, former players and coaches slammed Gatland for dropping O’Driscoll while fans took their anger out on Davies through Twitter.
“There was a lot of stuff on Twitter but I tried not to take too much notice of it,” Davies told the Telegraph.
“I had some good advice from players like Mike Phillips who just told me to ignore it.”
“I was just grateful to have been given the opportunity to win the series. I did get a bit of verbal abuse and people wanting to break my legs and stuff. But I didn’t really care.
“I did feel like public enemy number one and there was a lot of pressure. But I felt like I had performed well under pressure.
“It was a great experience and I enjoyed every minute. Brian congratulated me afterwards and said well done.”
“We were tight as a squad and Brian will be glad to have it on his CV.”
The post Lions centre Davies was victimised on Twitter appeared first on Rugby Week | Rugby Cup News, Rugby Club Fixtures and Rugby Video.