Dallaglio sees similarities to his champion England side from ’03
World Cup-winning England No 8 Lawrence Dallaglio believes All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has got it right with the naming of his extended squad for the side’s Northern Hemisphere tour.
Dallaglio was an integral part of Martin Johnson’s winning England side at the 2003 World Cup and said in The Times that one of the reasons they won that year was because of coach Sir Clive Woodward’s attention to detail in the lead-up.
“That included arranging tests in New Zealand and Australia in the summer of 2003 so that we would have experience of playing our two closest rivals in their own backyard.
“In Australia, we spent time and played a game in Perth because Clive wanted us to get a feel for the city and the ground where we would meet South Africa in our pool game,” he said.
Dallaglio said he could see the same kind of strategising from Hansen and felt it was smart thinking.
“New Zealand are heading to Japan where they play Australia on Saturday week and then the host nation of next year’s World Cup. From there they come to Europe for tests against two of their rivals, Ireland and England, and Italy, whom they face in their 2019 pool,” he said.
Dallaglio said the loss of No 8 Billy Vunipola to his third broken arm in the past year would be significant. He said he and brother Mako, who was yesterday also ruled out of any
New Zealand are heading to Japan where they play Australia on Saturday week and then the host nation of next year’s World Cup.
action during the tour, were players who would be assets to any team, including New Zealand.
Billy Vunipola’s influence with his Saracens club side was apparent in the statistics. When he played, their win percentage was 90 per cent, without him it fell to 68 per cent. In the last 42 games he has started for the side he had only been on the losing side three times.
His loss for England, who play the All Blacks at Twickenham on November 10, was exacerbated with the news that Chris Robshaw is unavailable following surgery for a knee injury.
He will be out of action for eight weeks leaving England coach Eddie Jones with an injury list of 17 players. Jones is to name his squad for the internationals today.