Mike Brown has hit out at Warren Gatland’s decision to leave him out of the British and Irish Lions squad for the tour to New Zealand.

Brown was omitted from the 41-man party to face the All Blacks despite helping England win the Six Nations, with Gatland preferring Stuart Hogg, Jared Payne, Leigh Halfpenny, Liam Williams and Anthony Watson as full-back options.

Brown, 31, is unlikely to be in contention for the next Lions tour to South Africa in 2021, and the Harlequins player has admitted he was left devastated by Gatland’s decision – and unimpressed with the head coach’s failure to tell him if he should consider himself on stand-by for the squad.

He told The Rugby Paper: “I didn’t take it well. I was gutted. I feel I’ve played really well from 2015 onwards so it was really disappointing to get the call, but you can’t let one man’s decision define you.