HATS off to British & Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland – fortune favoured the brave.

As I mentioned last week, I was happy with most of his selections for that third Test against the Wallables, save for the omission of Brian O’Driscoll.

I still feel the Ireland man should have been playing and had he done so I don’t believe the outcome would have been any different to what it was.

However, I don’t think anybody predicted the sort of result we got on Saturday morning.

Gatland took a lot of flak, but he did what he believed and his guys came through for him in style.

We knew they had a performance in them, but that is why we love sport and, with the tennis as well, it was a glorious weekend.

Two things stand out for me at the conclusion of the tour, the first being that with their players having gained so much confidence from it, Wales are going to be a pretty tough team to beat over the next year or so.

The second is the impact of England’s Alex Corbisiero. I would go so far as to say that if he had been fit for the second Test, the final score could have been a much different story.

He and number eight Toby Faletau were my men of the match but Corbisiero is one of the most attacking loosehead props I’ve seen since former Gloucester and England man Trevor Woodman and a fine technician.

Finally, I hope the tour has ensured the Lions tradition has been restored.

Questions would have been asked had they lost another one, but a lot of 14, 15 and 16-year-olds will have been watching this Lions tour thinking ‘I want to be part of that’.

It’s a similar effect to the one the 1989 tour to Australia had on me.

  •  Steve’s column will return at the start of the rugby season in September