Former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio believes the players must assert themselves and not be intimidated by team manager’s status. Mark Souster writes in The Times.
"England need to escape the shadow of Martin Johnson’s giant reputation and not be afraid to stand up to the team manager if they are to make an impact on the Six Nations Championship, according to Lawrence Dallaglio.
"The former England back-row forward, who won the World Cup with Johnson in 2003, believes that many of the present squad are so in awe of the former captain’s iconic status in the game that they feel inhibited.
“What we all want to see is players having more input into where they are going, what style of rugby they are to play — in other words, England need to be more player-led and less coach-driven,” Dallaglio said. “The challenge for Martin is that he is such an iconic guy they don’t want to put their hand up; everyone is so afraid of him. They don’t want to say, ‘What are you on about?’ They need to challenge the coaches. When you have that void, you become led by your coaches."
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