Dalalglio gives view on England captaincy

[kingol22]

he suggest rees should be given it
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/8647121.stm
i think several players should be tested
moody - the france performance was good so see if it was a one off or not
tindall - experienced and a solid all round player could be interesting to see him as captain
croft - i see him as one of englands most important forwards in the future and could be great on the hard grounds. can england bring him into the game like the lions did and can he lead?
shaw - in the long run not the best bet but he may last till the world cup heaps of experience and is a player that has done it all within the england squad.

[bluntiger]

Dalaglio suggests a Wasp player for England captain! What a shock! He suggested Josh Lewsey and Tim Payne for the Lions tour - he is responsible for player contracts at Wasps so he has a huge conflict of interests if you want an independant view.

Don't get me wrong, Rees is a good player but where would Rees play? 6 or 7 - ahead of Croft or Moody? Probably not. Non-playing captain?

[Chobbsy]

[quote="kingol22"]he syggest rees should be given it
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/8647121.stm
i think several players should be tested
moody - the france performance was good so see if it was a one off or not
tindall - experienced and a solid all round player could be interesting to see him as captain
croft - i see him as one of englands most important forwards in the future and could be great on the hard grounds. can england bring him into the game like the lions did and can he lead?
shaw - in the long run not the best bet but he may last till the world cup heaps of experience and is a player that has done it all within the england squad.[/quote]

Not saying he would be a bad choice but he has to get back into the starting 15 for England first

[Richard]

In the interview he did say he was biased, for wasps players, as he knows them very well. It is probably very similar to Martin Johnson, picking Tigers players. You go with players that you know and are able to do the job to their best ability.

[Will S]

I don't think it will be long before Rees is back in the England team (I still remember his performance against NZ) and when he is back in the team I think he would be the ideal captain.

However, let the lad regain his place first without the pressure of captaincy. Mix the captaincy around a bit over the tour, having a fixed captain always makes it harder to tinker with the team and try out different combinations, then hopefully we can move into next years 6N's with a long term captain and a better idea of our WC 15.

[westy154]

I agree with Mr Dallaglio. Maybe not on this upcoming tour, but certainly soon and certainly long term.

For me Rees is probably the best prospect as a true "fetching" number 7 that we have in this country. If fit and on form, I would pick him every time. Whenever I have seen him he has shown excellent leadership skills for such a young player, and would give him the England armband to allow a team to grow up around the same captain.

To use kingol22's list of players, my responses would be:
moody - Excellent player, but getting towards the twilight. Will only be around for a couple more years - Not a long term solution.
tindall - Ditto
croft - Excellent prospect, but has never really shown too much in the way of leadership on the pitch as far as I have seen?
shaw - Far too old.

We all accept (don't we?) that the team we take to the next World Cup won't stand any chance of winning the thing, so we may as well continue to build and target the 2015 Cup instead. This means building a team around a player who will be around for several years. The likes of Shaw and Moody won't be.

My tuppence at least...

[Will S]

I think it is a bit hasty to write off our chances for 2011 WC. We are certainly not going in with the expectations we had in 2003 but we have the quality players, they just don't seem to be playing well as a unit (this is much easier to remedy than the other way round!). It doesn't take long to galvanise a team, just look how we pushed France and how Australia have turned the corner. Besides, we nearly won the 2007 WC playing absolute rubbish and whilst the GP is not ideal the playoff system and widespread threat of relegation does teach our players to handle high pressure matches where some countries continually choke.

[4071]

He may well captain England for the games against Australia A and the Maori.


With a pick based on form, he's not even likely to tour. So the fact that he will be going at all is a huge vote of confidence in the guy. But making him captain would be a step too far. The worst aspect of England captaincy is when a player is made captain who isn't necessarily the best player in his position. On current form, Rees would not only be behind Moody and Armitage, but also behind Saull, Fourie and probably even Joe El Abd (who is going great at Toulon).

I'd be happy to see him tour ahead of players who have been playing better, because he's got a good track record and great potential. But captain? No. Not until he's back to being the best in his position.

[tigerburnie]

It is probably very similar to Martin Johnson, picking Tigers players. You go with players that you know and are able to do the job to their best ability.

Who was playing when Johnno was here,apart from Moody?,he doesn't know any of our new young lads.

[westy154]

A fair few players that Johnson has relied upon so far (Wilkinson, Borthwick, Moody) are people he knew from his playing days. Even Steve Thompson coming out of retirement was part of Johnson's squad when he was captain.

[trendylfj]

Whatever tour or competition is coming up, whoever is fit and available,whatever strategic plan for the future has been formulated by the manager, there is one and one only pre-requisite for a captain and that is that he is the best player in his position. That of course takes account of rest periods etc etc.

All of the great captains have been the outstanding player in their position for their country, thus commanding respect of the rest of the squad.

Can you imagine the thoughts of any player looking at his captain and thinking someone else should be playing in that position but the skipper is only there because he is the captain. That is why Borthwick and Vickery will never be thought of as great captains.

Who to select is a totally different issue and IMHO there is not an outstanding leader in the side who would not have others breathing down his neck.

[el trombono]

Good old Dallaglio. Doing what he does best as per. Sniping from the sidelines.

[MurphysLaw]

Another comment to the press from Wasps.What a surprise.
In the last few days there have been comments from Vickery (on the size of the Prem); Hayes (making unsubstantiated claims of salary cap busting) Dayglo (on Rees, the size of the salary cap, Cipriani and anything else you care to mention...; and of course Celebriani himself.

Theirs is a well-oiled media machine, and I sometimes think that the Tiger's PR people could learn a lesson or two. However, on balance I think it much better that we let our rugby do the talking.

[Bill W (2)]

However, on balance I think it much better that we let our rugby do the talking.

Absolutely!!!

[tigerburnie]

Dayglo's a man I've never had much time for,just a gut feeling,no reason.
However he's a man proud of his club and their players and achievements,so I guess he will blow their trumpet,no-one else will.
It just seems that he is becoming like British politicians,a bit of a "rent-a-mouth",always got an opinion(not always that well thought out).He also seems to be able to say lot's without having any substance to what he says,always able to criticise,but never able to come up with much original or worth listening to.He's becoming the "jordon" of the rugby world,famous for being famous,shame really as he was a fair player,once or twice.