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Dallaglio tips England victory
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Former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio believes the Jonny Wilkinson factor will inspire England to victory against Australia on Saturday.
Wilkinson returns to England colours for the first time in 18 months at Twickenham this weekend and his former international team-mate said that prospect would have worried the Wallabies.
"It's great to have Jonny Wilkinson back for England, especially considering the injury problems he's had," Dallaglio told Orange. "Just having his name on the team sheet will have a psychological edge over Australia. You have to remember this is a guy who kicked Australia out of the last two World Cups and there's just something very special about him as a player.
"I remember when I played for England, I'd come off at half-time thinking 'God, we're playing poorly' but I'd look up at the scoreboard and somehow we'd be leading 12-3 and that's because of Jonny. He keeps England in games we should have lost - he's that good. The other factor is his amazing experience. Having him in the side will inspire a lot of the younger and more inexperienced guys around him."
Ironically, Wilkinson is one of the few fully fit players at England boss Martin Johnson's disposal following a litany of injury problems which have led to something of a crisis in the England camp.
In all, 11 of Johnson's initial 32-man squad have been forced to pull out of the match but Dallaglio said England could not use injuries as an excuse should they come off second best against Australia.
"Injuries can't be blamed as we should have enough strength in depth to beat Australia," he said. "The Aussies are missing some key players too but that's just part of a physical game like rugby. The England line-up that will start on Saturday has enough quality to win from one to 15 and I'm thinking with my head and not just my heart."
The Wallabies go into the match on a terrible run of form having lost six out of their last seven matches, while England have failed to set the world alight on the international stage since Johnson took the reigns last year.
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However, Dallaglio said Johnson would start with a clean slate on Saturday but thinks the match is vital in defining his former team-mate’s England tenure.
"Rugby - in fact all team sport - is so much about momentum," he added. "If England beat Australia then they'll probably go on to beat Argentina and then they'll really fancy beating New Zealand in the third of their November Tests. But likewise that can go the other way and England could easily see themselves staring down the barrel of a hat-trick of defeats.
"But Johnno is pretty much starting from scratch with year two for England and with the different playing staff he's got at his disposal right now. And I know he'll be pumped for these games.
"He's a year further into the job and a year wiser. It isn't enough just to be a legend as a player - it doesn't mean you get good results straight away and he was well aware of that. But he will have learnt a hell of a lot in his first year and will know exactly what he needs to do to make England world beaters once again.
"As it stands, we're not. We're ranked seventh in the world to Australia's third and the only way to become world beaters is to beat the best consistently and that starts with Australia on Saturday."
England's side is vastly different from Johnson's last international line-up. No.8 Jordan Crane and inside centre Shane Geraghty will both be making their first Test starts while David Wilson will appear in an England jersey at prop for only the second time in his career.
In all, England boast just four players - captain Steve Borthwick, Harlequins duo Danny Care and Ugo Monye, and back-row forward Tom Croft - from the side that were defeated 28-14 by Australia last year, Johnson's first loss as England boss. And Dallaglio said the change of personnel could have the perfect effect.
"Injuries just happen in rugby - I had nine operations during my career and that's part and parcel of the game," he said. "Johnno will be the first to admit this wouldn't have been his first team but there's some young guys who have some great opportunities and that's how great international careers start.
"Some guys will step up to the plate and make big names for themselves on Saturday and what better motivation could they have than facing the green and gold of Australia at Twickenham."
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England's current injury crisis, which in total ruled 27 players out of Johnson's selection, has made for worrying reading but Dallaglio said it was wrong to blame the increasing size of players and the physical nature of the game.
"For me, it's all about recovery time," he said. "Players need less game time and the only way to do that is to increase the playing squads at club level. If that's not done, things will get more and more out of control. There's no point blaming things on the big hits - that's how rugby is - but players need to be better managed and that starts with the number of players available to a club. That needs to change if England are going to have the players available to make it to a third World Cup final in a row in 2011."
Dallaglio retired from international rugby at the end of the 2007 World Cup and this month published his latest book, Dallaglio's Rugby Tales: The Legendary Stories of Blood, Sweat and Beers, a sideways look at some of his favourite anecdotes from the sport.
He explained: "It's a book that came from too many glasses of red wine. Rugby's like no other - in part due to the change from the amateur to the professional era and there are so many legendary characters and legendary stories over the years.
"So I rang or wrote to a lot of these guys to share their best anecdotes. I used to think a lot of the stories were just urban myths while sadly a lot of them were too rude to repeat in print but it's a cracking read and I was genuinely laughing out loud as I wrote it."
A host of favourite tales spring to mind, most notably when Dallaglio lined up to meet then South Africa president Nelson Mandela ahead of a Test match against the Springboks.
"Dewi Morris was in our line-up and was desperately trying to think of something intelligent to say to Mandela," he said. "Here was this great guy in front of him and he wanted to make an impression. So up comes the legendary Nelson Mandela and what does Dewi say? 'Have you got road tax in South Africa?' I'm sure Mandela had never had that response and he looked in utter disbelief."
Dallaglio's Rugby Tales: The Legendary Stories of Blood, Sweat and Beers, published by Headline, is available in all good bookstores now RRP £18.99.
