Brian O'Driscoll comes in for sustained criticism in Tana Umaga's autobiography, serialised in the New Zealand Heraldyesterday, as the former All Black captain finally provides his version of the "Speargate" incident that overshadowed the 2005 Lions tour, Gavin Cummiskey reports.

"Everyone knows - or thinks they know - what happened in the first 90 seconds. I went into a ruck and cleaned out Brian O'Driscoll.

"I was standing over the ball trying to protect it when he bounced back to have another crack at disrupting our possession. We were tussling as he tried to get through and I grabbed his leg to try to unbalance him, a technique I'd used before and still use to this day. What I didn't realise was that Keven Mealamu was doing the same thing on the other side of the ruck.

"As I got one of O'Driscoll's legs up, Keven hoisted his other leg and drove him back. He ended up with both feet off the ground, not in control of himself or the situation, a position rugby players often find themselves in. When we let him go he came down and what happened, happened. I didn't think anything of it, I just took off."

Umaga, now coach of French club Toulon, accuses O'Driscoll - with the aid of Lions spin-doctor Alistair Campbell - of making repeated personal attacks in the aftermath of the first Test. "You don't want to take it personally but it's almost impossible not to when another player, a guy you had some respect for, attacks your character in the most direct and damning terms. My first thought was geez, don't be a sook; there's no use crying about it, man, it's over. On the other hand I could understand how bitterly disappointed O'Driscoll was. He would have been just like me - buzzing with anticipation, really up for it, and desperate to make a point on the field."

A sook is a Southern Hemisphere colloquialism that means soft, timid or cowardly person.

In O'Driscoll's 2005 book, A Year In The Centre, the Lions captain referred to a phone conversation with Umaga on the Thursday after the first Test.

"Last night Tana finally rang: 'Sorry you got hurt,' he said. We then said a couple of things that will forever remain private and finished by agreeing to bury the hatchet."

Umaga clearly decided not to keep this exchange confidential. "He was still angry that I hadn't gone over to see how he was and once he'd got that off his chest, he accused me of being involved in a lot of off-the-ball incidents.

"The Lions hadn't been impressed with the way I'd played, he said, and I had to watch it. I said, 'Don't talk to me about off-the-ball incidents, talk to your own players'. (With all the fuss the Lions had made over the O'Driscoll incident, it had almost been overlooked that their lock Danny Grewcock, a player with a history of foul play, had been cited, found guilty, and banned for biting Keven Mealamu.) 'Look at Grewcock,' I said, 'He's a meat-head'."

"Yeah, he is a meathead," he (O'Driscoll) said. "You can't change that but we're better than that. We shouldn't play like those guys. We thought you were a gentleman."

"While he went on along those lines, I was thinking to myself, hang on, this is a game I take seriously. But when he started talking about off-the-ball stuff and me not being a gentleman I thought, oh, you're reaching now. I never went out to commit foul play: I didn't punch guys on the ground or stomp on them.

"So I said, 'oh well, mate, we'll just have to agree to disagree. I'm sorry for what happened to you, but there was no intent in it; it was one of those unfortunate things that happen in rugby'."

"He said, 'yeah, but you could've helped it'. 'Okay, mate,' I said, 'all the best'. And that was where we left it."

Umaga also defends his decision not to check on O'Driscoll when he was injured, putting it down to his competitive nature. He expressed indifference to O'Driscoll's unique approach to the haka (which was devised by Clive Woodward after an email from a 'Maori elder').

"We didn't understand what he was doing so they were one up on us there, but it's rubbish to suggest that it had anything to do with what happened at that ruck."

In the second Test Umaga reveals several incidents with Paul O'Connell and other angry Lions players. "At times, though, they seemed to think it was them against me. As a ruck broke up, Paul O'Connell loomed over me ranting and raving. As I got up, their props Julian White and Gethin Jenkins started pushing and shoving. I knew it was going to happen at some stage so I just said, 'Come on, any time, just bring it'. I backed away slowly looking at them and saying, 'Are you going to start playing soon or what?'

"Later, when O'Connell went down, I went over to him as he was rolling around the ground and said, 'Mate, don't give up now, we're just getting started'. He jumped straight up."

From the Irish base in Bordeaux yesterday, O'Connell was asked to respond to Umaga's comments: "I haven't had a chance to read it . . . Sure, I have enough problems as it is." Cue laughter.

Simon Bestin hospital

Ireland prop Simon Best has been admitted to hospital in Bordeaux for tests following complaints of feeling unwell and a loss of feeling down his right side.

Best, who was named in the Ireland squad to play Argentina this weekend, was immediately transferred to hospital accompanied by the Ireland team doctor where further tests are being carried out to determine the cause of these symptoms.