Robin Scott-Elliot interviews England great Lawrence Dallaglio about his views on where England have gone wrong since 2003 in The Independent.
"Lawrence Dallaglio ambles out of the room, checking the messages on his mobile phone. A couple of minutes later he returns. "About all that England stuff..." he says and then pauses. This zealous communicator, a happy chewer of the fat, for once does not have the words immediately to hand. "I'm a patriot," he states after a moment, and shrugs. "All I want is to see England doing well."
"England are not doing well and that exercises Dallaglio, one of the sturdy few who once helped them rule the world. Exercises him to the point that he now allows himself to contemplate that the legacy created on a stellar night beneath the Southern Cross six years ago, when he packed down behind Martin Johnson, has been wasted. Spent frivolously through hasty decisions, muddled selections and, above all, a telling lack of direction. He is a patriot with a problem.
"No stability, no continuity," says Dallaglio. "We've had Andy Robinson, Brian Ashton, now Martin Johnson. England have not had a coherent strategy since winning the World Cup. 'Let's make Andy Robinson our coach... oh no we got that wrong. Let's make Brian Ashton our coach... oh no we got that wrong. Let's make Martin Johnson our coach."
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