VICTORY has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan, so said John F Kennedy and many Scottish rugby fans seem to agree, joining the clamour to distance themselves from the British and Irish Lions.

In the wake of Saturday’s last gasp 16-15 second Test defeat to Australia, with no Scot-land players involved yet again, some followers north of Hadrian’s Wall have openly admitted they are now supporting the Wallabies.

Lions head coach Warren Gatland’s decision not to bring on Glasgow Warriors prop Ryan Grant after Pontypool-raised loosehead Mako Vunipola was tormented in the scrum during the first half has provoked the kind of vitriol the Scots usually reserve for the English.

One hopes Gatland hasn’t booked a holiday along the shores of Loch Lomond any time soon.

Scouring comments on The Scotsman website makes for eye-opening reading, our Celtic cousins convinced the Wales head coach just doesn’t rate their players.

Former Newport Gwent Dragons consultant Dean Ryan, who coached Scot-land’s forwards during the last Six Nations, also had a pop at Gatland.

Writing for The Guardian, Ryan said: “Grant is technically a better scrummager than Vunipola.

“I coached him in the last Six Nations with Scotland, and I felt he should have been picked for the tour in the first place.

“But he suffers from this perception – inaccurate, I might add – that the Scotland scrum is weak.

“I just don’t understand the rationale behind leaving Vunipola out there, especially when you effectively can have rolling substitutions for the front row. Players can come back on if someone is injured there, so there was nothing to stop him doing it.

“But Gatland clearly has no confidence in Grant, which is a shame and, more than that, a serious problem if Alex Corbisiero is not fit next Saturday.”

Going back to the posts on The Scotsman’s website, one reader wrote: “It was an insult to Scottish rugby, Glasgow Warriors, Ryan and the Scots boys sitting up in the stand to leave Grant rotting on the bench while the starting prop (a pretty much international rugby experience free one at that) contrived to make a hash of everything at the set piece.

“They have never been in consideration for Test spots. Never in a million years.

“I cannot sit and cheer the Lions on next weekend.

“Whether that is sportsmanlike or not I don’t know, but I can’t do it.

When are we in Cardiff next Six Nations again? My God, that would be a sweet victory.”

Another irritated Cale-donian said: “With the pool of players the Lions have to pick from, the Test performances have been pathetic.

“How Gatland and Co can get them to play that poorly is astonishing and that’s before you even look at selections.

“No ambition shown at all. Embarrassing. Imagine if Australia had a half decent 10....”

Another wrote: “Gatland’s tactics are depressing in the extreme and last night’s game was a bore fest.

“They remind me of Scotland when Dan Parks was playing. Hoping to win on other teams’ mistakes and penalties.”

Some also pointed out that when the Lions last won a series – in South Africa 16 years ago – success was achieved thanks to an heroic effort that involved all four Home Unions providing key players to the 2-1 victory over the Springboks.

But all is not lost. Maybe the Lions just need to make sure Grant, and perhaps lock Richie Gray, get on the field for Saturday’s defining Third and final Test match.