Dallaglio: Wasps ready to graft

THE sign inside their clubhouse in Ealing, west London reads, ‘Welcome to Twyford Avenue, Home of Wasps’.

The training grounds (they play their matches in High Wycombe) are a modest setting for the two-time European Cup champions but, as their most famous son, Lawrence Dallaglio, reminds us: “It’s an honest place of work; there’s nothing flash about it, that’s for sure.” One thing is certain: this is an airs-and-graces-free zone where rugby egos aren’t tolerated.

It is 1pm on the Tuesday before their Heineken Cup clash with Munster. A parade of legends — Dallaglio, Raphael Ibanez and Phil Vickery — file past into an ordinary but functional gym. Above the door another sign reads: ‘Don’t come to play, come to work’, a motto that best sums up the work ethic of a club that thrives on honesty and being the underdog in battle.

You might be talking about Munster such are the similarities in attitude and outlook between two of European rugby’s giants.

Wasps RUFC was founded in 1867 before the advent of the RFU and, according to its website, gained its name “largely due to the fashion of the Victorian period when clubs tended to adopt the names of insects, birds and animals. The name in itself has no particular significance other than this vogue.”

The professionals train in Ealing, though die-hards of the club regard Sudbury, their previous address, as their spiritual home. The old club house still exists there.

But no man seems to embody the club spirit better than Lawrence Dallaglio. To write that he’s part of the furniture here would be understating things. On the walls his England Colts and U21 shirts are framed behind glass wooden frames, all surrounded by photos and an honours-list depicting great times past.

He is also the sole link with the Wasps side that were trounced in Thomond in October 1996.

“Munster were on the start of their journey, and they were formidable then,” Dallaglio remembers.

“We got taught a good rugby lesson — if you don’t turn up with the right tools, you don’t win the game. So let’s hope we pack the tool box properly this time.”

While the 49-23 defeat left an indelible mark on Wasps, the Thomond experience, nevertheless, seemed to spur them to greater things that season.

“The week after we lost in Thomond Park we beat Toulouse by 70 points in quite an extraordinary game of rugby, and we went on to win the league that year too. Either way it left a big mark on us. ”

Dallaglio is an English rugby legend, up there with Martin Johnson, but like the setting in Ealing, he remains unassuming and down-to-earth. He’s a jeans-and-tracksuit man and a supporter of Chelsea, who, when I ask about Wasps humble set-up he tells me, tongue firmly in cheek: “We’d have preferred to have given you a better welcome but we just about make ends meet here. Must be the large salaries they are playing the players. They’ll be getting larger by all accounts if you believe what you read.”

However, his summation of the place explains why they are such a success story: “It is an honest place to work; the egos are left at the door. Mind, there aren’t too many egos left anyway. If you arrive here with one, you can get booted straight back to the car park.

“Whether you have no caps, one cap or 80 caps, it’s just an honest place to work. That’s what it’s all about really. There’s nothing flash about it, that’s for sure.”

His opposite number tomorrow, Anthony Foley, said on Wednesday how much he respects Dallaglio and while Dallaglio is fulsome in his praise of the Munster no 8, he’s a touch envious Foley has won more Heineken Cup caps than him.

“He’s enjoying an Indian summer, isn’t he? He certainly has played more Heineken Cup games than me. He beats me on that score. And Quinlan is playing as well as I have seen him play. And they’ve David Wallace.

“They won’t be giving too much away in the back row. Any of them would agree, you’re only as good as the five guys in front of you.

“Clearly up front it’s going to be a great contest. I look at their pack and I see superstars. I look at our pack and I see guys who I’ve been to battles with and who I can trust.”

Dallaglio is someone who could easily have slotted into the Munster way of life. He had claims to play for Ireland through his Irish mother but turned down an invitation from Ireland manager Noel Murphy in 1995 to play for the shamrock. However, he did play a big part in bringing Johnny O’Connor to Wasps and rates Eoin Reddan as a great signing, someone who stood out at the Rugby World Cup.

“I think the fact we have a little bit of Munster in our team, I’m sure he’ll really relish the challenge in going back there. He left because he wasn’t getting enough rugby. Sometimes moves like that don’t always work out. I think in his case it was absolutely the right move. He has gone on and done some great things for Wasps. I’m sure he’d have preferred to have done them for Munster. He’s quite polite but he’d have preferred to have done them for Munster but that opportunity wasn’t given to him so he’s had to do them at Wasps.”

The Wasps No 8, who has lifted seven trophies in the last five seasons and who stepped down from international rugby three weeks ago, doesn’t look at beating Munster in Thomond Park as a major scalp and one for the cv before he bows out completely from the playing side in May.

“I don’t look at my career in that way,” the 35-year-old reasons. “It’s not about that; it’s about enjoying the game of rugby. What I will say to be a top class player, you got to have the ability to play away from home — that’s where you get judged as a player. We can all play in Twickenham, we can all play in Adams Park, we can all look pretty good when we have our own crowd behind us, but to be worthy to be respected you have to go and do that in a hostile environment.

“There’s no doubt Thomond Park will certainly be that, for 80 minutes at least anyway. So that’s the challenge and that’s what it’s all about. I don’t get to travel very often any more — so this is good opportunity for me. I’m looking forward to that.”