Premiereship teams require bigger squads and fewer matches

LAWRENCE Dallaglio fears English clubs will continue to struggle to dominate in Europe unless they increase their squad numbers.

The World Cup winner insists adding to the numbers at each Premiership club is a priority if the top stars are to get more opportunities to rest and recover in between the huge domestic and Champions Cup games.

Once again the European picture looks pretty bleak for English sides with hopes likely to be left again in the hands of recent two-times champions Saracens.

Leicester, Wasps and Bath have already lost any chance of qualifying for the next phase while Gloucester, Exeter and Newcastle need heroics in their final two games and others to slip up to progress.

The French and Irish teams are dominating once more with two Scottish sides, Glasgow and Edinburgh right in the mix. And a disappointed Dallaglio says: “There is a big question mark over whether we are preparing our players correctly to play European and international rugby. Yes, we won the World Cup in 2003 with a similar formula that we have now, but the game is totally different now.

“Unfortunately, rugby in this country is so attritional and physical that people are picking up a lot more injuries than you would like. It’s to do with the sheer work-load and demands on the leading guys.

“There is a also big question mark around the size of the Premiership squads. The Irish are doing so well on the international stage and in European club competitions because they are rotating their players on a regular basis meaning their players are not playing too much rugby.

“I played 30 or 40 games no problem but those days are gone. Now you have to be playing 25 matches a season and those games are still full on contests where no-one is holding anything back.

“English clubs are not getting the results that we should be in the Champions Cup because the players are having to slog it out domestically and are not in the best shape to play in Europe.

“For me the squad sizes need to go up, and our top players should play around five fewer games than they are.

“Just look at the way Ireland are benefiting both internationally and domestically from resting their players. The RFU and the clubs can change that.”