Dreams of glory dim with big man's exit

Lawrence Dallaglio is stretchered off the field with an ankle injury that has ended his tour. Picture / Fotopress

Even in his pain you almost expected Lawrence Bruno Nero Dallaglio to rise from his stretcher and give a clenched fist to exhort his Lions team-mates to complete a tour which had ended so tragically for himself.

He was the vice-captain, a lightning-rod for the impact of the pack, a man whom coach Sir Clive Woodward had leaned on heavily for a year in planning the tour.

Dallaglio, you felt, was someone who gave the Lions an edge, not in some of the silkier parts of the game but as a leader, a driving forward of no compromise and unrelenting power.

His England team last year were forgettable, but not their skipper, the lantern-jawed No 8 of Roman ancestry. His style was made for skirmishes in the middle of a New Zealand winter, the grinding demands of test rugby, a forward the All Black panel would happily embrace.

He, Brian O'Driscoll and Jonny Wilkinson loomed as the trinity the Lions would lean on, men whose combination of ability, presence and relentless passion would drive the side forward.

Dallaglio left New Zealand last year steaming about England's passive tour and vowing to return with the full force of the Lions. An imposing physical specimen, he also carries that warrior gene which all rugby coaches crave. The impact of his departure, with a broken ankle after an accidental collision, was felt by all at the Rotorua International Stadium, but particularly by Woodward, whose demeanour in the crowd showed his disbelieving frustration. This tour, the coach admitted, had consumed much of his rugby conversation with Dallaglio in the past season.

During the course of last night, Woodward spent a consoling half an hour at Dallaglio's bedside in Rotorua Hospital. There would have been some reminiscences, some what-ifs and some prickly language about sporting injustices.

But, as pragmatic sporting men, they would have acknowledged injury as one of the inherent risks of participation. It was part of Woodward's rationale for bringing an initial squad of 45 on tour.

There would have been a handshake, a "see you at home" from Woodward and a "make sure you nail them" from Dallaglio before they parted, one man on a mission, the other on his way to surgery and a week's rehab before flying home.

After 73 tests for England, this third tour with the Lions was going to be Dallaglio's farewell from the big stage, a tilt at a series glory to rival the '71 Lions. The 32-year-old was invalided out of the 2001 Lions tour to Australia with a knee injury, retired from England last year but stayed in fighting trim for this visit. Lions followers would have dreamed of Brian O'Driscoll and Dallaglio being borne in triumph around Eden Park on July 9 to mark a series win.

Instead Dallaglio, made an indecorous tour exit after just 19 minutes at Rotorua, his body and broken right ankle strapped to a motorised stretcher. Club, test and Lions team-mate Josh Lewsey said it for the Lions when he described the injured No 8 as "one of the greatest leaders rugby has ever seen". His return home would be a "massive blow" for the tourists.

As Dallaglio was being eased into his hospital bed in Rotorua, the Lions were contacting replacement forward Simon Easterby at Shannon Airport in Ireland to detour him from a rugby tour to Japan. The question now is: who will be the Lions' test No 8? Martin Corry perhaps, the workhorse No 8 who also took over as England captain for the Six Nations, or Michael Owen, who led Wales to the Grand Slam and captained the Lions to the mixed 25-all draw against Argentina. Simon Taylor has repeatedly been praised for his skill, but his injury rate is high and he is not yet ready to start this tour.

Easterby will come into the reckoning but is apparently more a blindside flanker like Richard Hill.