It takes a big person to admit when they've done wrong, and former British and Irish Lion Joe Marler isn't beyond owning up to his mistakes. Specifically, the ex- England prop regrets his "bulls*** behaviour" towards 'The Geography Six' during the 2017 Lions tour of New Zealand. The current Lions squad will conclude its summer tour of Australia on Saturday, having already assured a series victory by taking a 2-0 lead . Needless to say things have been a lot more harmonious than the New Zealand trip of eight years ago. That summer sojourn is notable for numerous reasons, not least because it marked the first drawn Lions series in more than 60 years . However, head coach Warren Gatland also attracted scrutiny for calling up The Geography Six over other, potentially more well-suited names. Allan Dell, Finn Russell (both Scotland), Kristian Dacey, Tomas Francis, Cory Hill and Gareth Davies (all Wales ) were called up to the Lions squad mid-tour to help supplement the squad, mainly for non-Test fixtures. Wales and Scotland were touring in New Zealand and Australia, respectively, meaning some of their players were preferred to other high-calibre contenders who were based further away at the time. Marler, 35, was seemingly frustrated that certain England team-mates, who were touring Argentina, and others were ignored. The disgruntled front-rower, who retired from rugby last year, has since conceded he didn't hide his feelings from those who did get the call. "The murmurs throughout the majority of the squad were like, ‘What the f***, guys?’ For me, I look back on it and I regret the way I behaved towards the six players for the majority of the time," he told guest Dan Cole on The Joe Marler Show in 2021. "For some reason, I just went full resentment towards them as if it was their fault that they’d been called up. [Or] that when they got the call, they should have said they don’t fancy it. "That’s how I felt at the time, and looking back on it, I feel like that’s f***ing bulls*** from me. Especially the point at which they tried subbing us off and I was like, ‘F*** off.’" So incensed was Marler that he refused to be substituted off during one midweek match against the Hurricanes in Wellington. The Lions called to make their replacements, only for referee Romain Poite to play on when Marler said he wasn't leaving the field. It's unheard of for a rugby player to ignore the coaching staff's orders, even if the match in question wasn't a Test. And it's clear from Marler's assessment four years after the fact that he sees the error in his ways. The former Harlequins favourite also opened up about his experience of Gatland and what he thought of him as a coach. But while the Kiwi may hold a legendary reputation in some parts of the world, one scrummaging drill left Marler in serious doubt. "I don’t think I ever got close enough to blow smoke up his a***," he joked. "I found him quite an awkward character, which says a lot really because I tend to surround myself with awkward characters! "I thought he was alright. My experience was that I felt the Test team had already been picked, and it was going to be pretty hard to change a lot about that. That’s just my view of it. Then I think I struggled with him when I couldn’t work out this scrum drill. I couldn’t work out whether he was taking the p*** out of us or whether he was being serious. "If he was taking the p*** then it’s like, ‘Hang on a minute, you’re taking the p*** out of the midweek veg. You’re not working on trying to keep the squad together.' But if he wasn’t taking the p*** out of us and it was a legit drill, then it’s, ‘Hang on a minute, you’re meant to be one of the best coaches in the world.'"