Injured British and Irish Lions centre Brian O'Driscoll pulled no punches when he let fly with a barrage aimed at South African head coach Peter de Villiers, calling the Springbok mentor a "disgrace" and his comments "despicable".

The veteran Irish and Lions centre, O'Driscoll, will return home on Wednesday after being concussed when he knocked himself senseless with a head-high tackle on Bok replacement Danie Rossouw in the 25-28 loss in the second Test in Pretoria last Saturday - a result that saw the Boks take an unassailable 2-0 series lead against the Lions.

However, O'Driscoll's most fierce hit of the tour was his parting shot, with the 30-year-old midfielder attacking De Villiers for the controversial comments that suggested the Springboks boss condoned eye-gouging - comments which have already resulted in the International Rugby Board stepping in and asking the South African Rugby Union to clarify their stance on the matter.

It resulted in a formal apology from De Villiers and Saru boss Oregan Hoskins, who claimed in a joint statement that De Villiers did not intend to suggest he condones eye gouging.

De Villiers said in his post-match reaction that he felt Springbok flank Schalk Burger did not warrant a yellow card, after he made contact with the eye area of Lions wing Luke Fitzgerald inside the first minute of last Saturday's second Test.

Burger was subsequently cited and banned for eight weeks, and De Villiers has been desperately backtracking on his original statement - suggesting that the media has been making mischief of his inability to get his message across in English. De Villiers' first language is Afrikaans.

But O'Driscoll, speaking to the British media before his departure on Wednesday, said: "When I heard those comments I wondered how someone can get away with something like that.

"Irrespective of any apology, I find it an absolute disgrace that a coach of a national team can make comments as he did about gouging being part of the game.

"Someone made a really good point to me that kids or parents watching an interview like that, questioning whether they should have their kid play rugby or soccer, that's their decision made right there.

"To hear a national coach saying in any shape or form, gouging is acceptable in the modern-day game is despicable.

"I find that mind-boggling that you can have a national team coach saying something like that. Essentially, it brought the game into disrepute."

O'Driscoll suffered concussion during the Pretoria clash, ruling him out of the third Test at Ellis Park on Saturday.

It ends an otherwise outstanding season - he led Ireland to the Six Nations title and a Grand Slam, in addition to winning the Heineken Cup with Leinster - on a low note.

"I always felt that this would be my last Lions tour," he added.

"But at the same, you see [35-year-old Lions lock] Simon Shaw and think well, there's hope. I don't know, maybe I've been a little bit tainted by a little bit of success this year.

"What I hate is that essentially that's the last chapter which will prey on your holidays a little bit.

"That's the taste that is left in your mouth - it's defeat in a series with the Lions, having won the Slam and the Heineken Cup. It is disappointing to think that you win those two in a year that you lose a Lions series.

"In another year you would be on a complete high throughout the whole summer, whereas now you're left with the feeling that I've been involved in three Lions tours and I've lost the three of them."

Despite the Lions suffering their third successive Test series defeat, O'Driscoll said: "I've had a brilliant tour, and I think that says an awful lot about whatever the management have done and the group of players too.

"It has been an incredibly enjoyable tour, way more than the other two [in 2001 and 2005].

"Lions tours are based on the success of the [Test] series, but at least this time around there has been more to it than the previous tours.

"I've enjoyed the other factors that maybe I didn't enjoy in the first two."

The Lions are scheduled to tour Australia in 2013.

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