Lawrence Dallaglio: Firsts & Lasts
The latest in our series speaking to ex England captains sees Lawrence Dallaglio recall his first and last Test as skipper.
Lawrence Dallaglio’s set-piece supremacy, superlative skills from the base of the scrum, full-throttle defensive power and unwavering will to win, saw him become the only player involved in every minute of England’s 2003 Rugby World Cup triumph.
A totemic presence, that victory made him one of only two players, together with Matt Dawson, to win both the Sevens and 15s World Cups. He retired from international rugby with 85 England caps, having been on three British and Irish Lions tours and remained a one-club man with Wasps
Lorenzo Bruno Nero Dallaglio arrived at Wasps as a teenager and, with his father Vincenzo born in Italy, and his mother Eileen from the East End of London but of Irish descent, he could have played for Italy, or Ireland. England was, however, where his heart lay.
The young chorister from Richmond’s King’s House School sang backing vocals with the choir on Tina Turner’s ‘We don’t need another hero’ and at Andrew Lloyd Webber’s wedding. Then, at Ampleforth College, where “rugby was the only thing they took as seriously as religion” he was coached by 1960s England full back John Wilcox.
“That was the beginning of the journey, it felt like a working men’s club, with a couple of pitches."
Despite his talent and ability to play in all three back row positions, when his sister Francesca, a 19-year-old ballerina, died in the Marchioness disaster in 1989, Dallaglio “lost touch with rugby and was wandering around lost” before walking into the Wasps clubhouse.
“That was the beginning of the journey, it felt like a working men’s club, with a couple of pitches. In those days you didn’t think of rugby as a career, you trained on Tuesday and Thursday nights and played on Saturday,” he says.
Not quite making the cut for England U18s spurred him on and he was selected for England U19s, Students and U21s. Playing for the U19s against Italy Colts, he was on the losing side and flown with his dad out to Italy, where a university place and international rugby career were on offer.
“I was born in Shepherds Bush, I felt English, I knew the history and heritage of English rugby and I wanted to break into the Wasps first team. I said ‘Dad, it’s all great but I want to play for England,” he recalls.
Dick Best picked him to play for England Sevens in 1993, alongside the likes of Dawson, Damian Hopley and Andrew Harriman. After the Sevens World Cupwin, he made it into the Wasps squad and then in 1995, as Wasps captain, into the England squad under Jack Rowell and Best.
He went on to captain his country 22 times and as England No 8formed, with Neil Back and Richard Hill, the back-row trio affectionately known as the Holy Trinity.
In May 1999, he resigned as England's captain following News of the World drugs allegations of which he was cleared and which he "categorically denied".
He returned to the leadership fray in 2004 when Clive Woodward restored him as captain at a time when England’s World Cup winners had retired or were injured. On a southern hemisphere tour the squad faced the All Blacks twice and Australia “sent out into battle to get walloped.”
Dallaglio, however, led by example, finally retiring from international rugby after the 2007 Rugby World Cup final as one of England's most outstanding players. His last match for Wasps was in that season’s Premiership win at Twickenham in front of more than 80,000 fans.
First 15 November 1997 England 15 - 15 Australia at Twickenham
“I’d been made captain of Wasps at 22, which was both an honour and lot of pressure at that age. As a newbie in the England squad you kept your mouth shut and your head down but you couldn’t stay quiet for too long, if you had something to say, you needed to say it. I always believed rugby was about collective leadership.
“I suppose I had a shot at captain under Jack (Rowell) when Phil de Glanville understandably got the role. Then with a new coach in Clive (Woodward) in ’97, I was invited to his home. I’d come back from South Africa with the winning Lions squad and had just turned 25.
“I wasn’t sure whether Clive wanted to get a disappointing conversation out of the way first. We didn’t know each other very well and I thought it was either good news or bad news. When he asked me to be captain I remember being really excited. I phoned my wife, Alice and my parents, the people who’d given me total support.
“When I made my England debut off the bench, my mum, who always came to England matches in a red jacket and to Wasps in a yellow one, tapped Jack Rowell on the shoulder after the match and told him he should have started me. He did for the next game!
Dawn of a new era
“When Clive came in, he really turned everything on its head, and wanted us to be the most successful team in the world. He knew that to do that we had to play and then beat the best in the world. My first four fixtures in charge were Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, New Zealand. We didn’t win, drew two and lost two, but it was the dawn of a new era so it was OK.
“I still remember running out of the tunnel for that first match as captain. The excitement doesn’t last long before you realise the responsibility resting on your shoulders. You represent the hopes, aspirations and dreams of millions of people. I genuinely felt, both as a player and captain, a tremendous closeness to the England fans. It was very endearing and tribal. Winning is what it’s all about. It can change your life and other people’s lives. If you win everyone is smiling.
“That Australia match felt like turning a page, new coach, new team and five making their debuts. It wasn’t unlike Clive to do that broad brush stroke, he wasn’t going to make it easy for his first game in charge.
“I’m not one to pre-prepare a team talk. It’s all about emotion in the changing room, finding the right emotional hooks within the group. Everyone was excited but equally nervous and we were playing at home against worthy opponents.
“We could have done with getting the new era off to a good start but it was a typical damp, grey November day when the fireworks leave smoke across a wet pitch. It wasn’t a classic, more of an arm wrestle. Catty scored five penalties and we finished on a draw and when you don’t get a win you’re always disappointed.
“We had a pretty daunting schedule after that, New Zealand twice, with South Africa in between. We were about to learn where England truly stood in the world, a gentle reminder that we had a long way to go to catch up. It was the start of Clive’s era, a journey to the Rugby World Cup that started in that drawn match. Over the next six-year period you could look around the dressing room and see the collective leadership, players who captained their clubs like Phil Vickery, Jason Leonard, Martin Johnson, Matt Dawson, Jonny Wilkinson. We had a lot of leaders.”
Last 26 June 2004 England 15- 51 v Australia in Brisbane
“I remember Clive saying I’m going to make you captain again and it felt like full circle. Captaincy wasn’t something I had a desperate desire to get back but I would never have turned it down.
“After we won the World Cup, a lot of players retired. I was one of those who got back and within a week went straight back to Wasps. We won the European Cup and the Premiership and the next day I was on a plane down to Australia with the England team.
“W’d been playing back to back rugby for three years and as I took over captaincy we were going to play two Tests against the All Blacks and one against the Wallabies in Australia. I looked around and half the squad had retired or were injured.
“It was less than a year since the World Cup, with a different squad. We had prepared so hard to win but we didn’t prepare for what happened afterwards. Many players were broken, Jonny Wilkinson didn’t play for England again for four years, and whoever organised that trip must have been off their rocker.
Emotional connection
“I picked up the baton as captain but we weren’t as united as we could have been. It was a tricky old trip made even harder by the fact we made bad selections. There we were facing a squad on their home ground that was not dissimilar to the one that came second in the world. It was about damage limitation and we didn’t even manage that very well.
“I tried to hold my head high but I was pretty broken by that experience. For three or four years I hadn’t lost with England, we’d won 14 times against the southern hemisphere home and away. To be thumped three times on the bounce and to lose like that in Australia, I just thought ‘enough is enough!’ We were sent out into a battle to get walloped. It’s fair to say my captaincy didn’t end beautifully.
“To be England captain was very special though. I loved that emotional connection with the crowd. It meant everything. I enjoyed trying to be the best player I could be, leading by example, being in the changing room with the team. I enjoyed everything about it, even when we were underdogs.
“I came from a pretty humble and non-rugby background. My dad was an Italian immigrant, my mum from London’s East End and to begin with they ran a sweet shop together. I believed in rugby’s values, always had time for people because that’s what rugby’s about, spending time with your supporters, signing autographs, giving kit away. As my mother Eileen used to tell me ‘It’s nice to be important but it’s important to be nice.’”
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