Chris Hewett: Dallaglio's departure means someone has to step up

This is bad news. Badder than bad. You might say it is as bad as bad gets.

Lawrence Dallaglio was - or rather, would have been - THE man on this tour.

The Lions could have done without Jonny Wilkinson because, with Stephen Jones to run the game and Gavin Henson to kick the long-range goals, most of the bases would have been covered. They might even have been able to do without Brian O'Driscoll, although they would have been in no hurry to try.

But Dallaglio? His departure from the squad will have far-reaching effects, none of them positive from the visitors' perspective.

As O'Driscoll said in Rotorua on Saturday night: "When you hear Lawrence complaining about the pain, you know it's serious."

If truth be told, the captain knew exactly how serious the moment he heard Dallaglio yell in agony as his ankle twisted and splintered and shot off at an angle previously unknown to geometry.

Four years ago in Australia, the big Londoner was invalided out of the Lions party when his knee ligaments, already fragile, gave out on him during a tough encounter with New South Wales in Sydney.

For him to be struck down a second time is too grim for words. The sporting gods move in the cruellest of ways, their evils to perform.

Sir Clive Woodward, a long-time ally and supporter of Dallaglio, was not exaggerating when he asserted that he had never seen the Wasps No 8 in better shape, either physically or mentally.

Towards the end of the English season, his form had been exceptional - a rich and heady mix of enthusiasm and expertise, of the rugged and the ruthless. Josh Lewsey, whom Dallaglio captained to a third consecutive Premiership title, described him as "one of the greatest leaders this game has seen", and he wasn't exaggerating.

So we arrive at the question of Dallaglio's successor as the conscience of this team - of the who and how and when.

Simon Easterby, a fiercely competitive Irish loose forward who plays his club rugby in Wales, is the replacement body, but there is more to the issue than that. Easterby has leadership experience at Heineken Cup level, but Woodward will look to others to fill the chasm.

Paul O'Connell, pretty impressive against Bay of Plenty when things were going wrong, is one obvious candidate; so too is Martin Corry, a quiet hard-case straight out of the Martin Johnson charm school and an England captain for good measure.

Michael Owen, who led Wales to the completion of a first Grand Slam in more than a quarter of a century, will be expected to step forward, as will the battle-hardened World Cup winners from the red-rose back row, Richard Hill and Neil Back.

There are cases to be made for all of these people, but the favourite to relieve the captain of at least some of the burden of keeping this disparate squad together - to set the example and establish the tone, to keep the lid on the saucepan - has yet to show his face in training. Gareth Thomas, a late arrival because of club commitments with Toulouse, has been a key figure in the Welsh renaissance, even though injury denied him the chance to exert his influence on the field during the latter stages of the Six Nations Championship.

A wide player who can mix it like a forward, he has the right characteristics to work alongside O'Driscoll, another glitzy back with the soul of a front-rower, in maintaining standards.

It is no small job, for Dallaglio was no small influence on this party.

Welcome to New Zealand, Gareth.

You're going to be a busy bloke.

* Chris Hewett is a rugby writer for the Independent in London