Brian O'Driscoll has been discarded as center and prospective captain as Warren Gatland made six changes to his British and Irish Lions starting lineup and included 10 Welshmen in his XV for the series-deciding third test against Australia.
Gatland said "the head overruled the heart" when it came to selecting the squad.
"Brian O'Driscoll is a great player and has had a wonderful career but for the final test in Sydney we just felt Jamie Roberts' presence offered us something more," Gatland said. "We think we picked the best team to win on Saturday."
When asked how O'Driscoll took the news, the Lions coach said: "I told him this morning. Obviously he was pretty disappointed as anyone is disappointed but he appreciated the fact that he was spoken to before the announcement.
"It's the first time any coach has ever had that decision with him in 15 years of rugby so it's not easy for that to be the first time but he's still going to be very important for us for the next 72 hours".

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