How do you organise a send-off for a man who has won everything? Arrange a world record crowd at Twickenham to see him lead his beloved club to victory in a Premiership final over their fiercest rivals … perfect.
Lawrence Dallaglio does not do anything by halves (this is a man, after all, who has cycled thousands of miles across Europe for charity since retirement). The most glittering of careers included triumphs in the World Cup, Six Nations, Heineken Cup, European Challenge Cup, Premiership, Anglo-Welsh Cup, English Cup and even the World Cup Sevens. He had won all the major trophies he had competed for.
There was one last hurrah left, and as so often in the past it was the Leicester Tigers who stood in the way of him and his Wasps side. The year before the Londoners had seen off their old foes from the East Midlands in the Heineken Cup final at Twickenham but the circumstances this time round were different.
Wasps had been tenth in the Premiership table just before Christmas, but put together one of their trademark rallies in the second half of the season to make the big day yet again. Leicester, too, had only sneaked into the play-offs and had beaten league leaders Gloucester by a point in an epic clash at Kingsholm – the first away side to ever win a Premiership semi-final.
Dallaglio had led Wasps to victory in each of their three previous Premiership finals but this time ranged up against them at Twickenham were the defending champions, skippered by his former England team-mate Martin Corry.
In addition to Dallaglio, it was to be Wasps stalwart centre Fraser Waters' last game for the club before he set sail for a swansong in Italy with Treviso. Between them, Waters and Dallaglio had made over 550 Wasps appearances.
“We were, of course, all aware of the significance of the game for Lawrence and Fraser,” says Tom Rees. “The build-up was a new experience and the fact that we had been on the ropes earlier in the season added something extra. We had played three games in the final week of the regular season due to earlier postponements to reach the play-offs but we had been building momentum for months.
“Lawrence and Fraser didn't make it about them at all. Within the dressing room we were all focused on that day and didn't need any further motivation. “
An awe-inspiring crowd of 81,600, then a world record for a club game, turned up for what was being billed as more than just a rugby match.
“Playing against Leicester was always special,” says Josh Lewsey. “At that time it was the two dominant teams of the professional era going toe-to-toe on the hallowed turf of Twickenham but
I always used to think of it as playing against your brother in the back garden…you respected each other hugely but they were the one team you didn't want to lose to.
“Lawrence was a huge influence, a dominant character. Leicester were playing some great rugby and I remember Stuart Barnes saying: ‘I can't see anyone competing with Leicester' – that was like a red rag to a bull for a team like ours.
“It was an emotional build-up, Lawrence was seen as being our talisman but people overlook the whole team of leaders. He was like the alpha stag, all the media and crowd's attention was on him but that worked for the rest of us to just get on with the game. He thrives on that stage, he's like a peacock fluffing his feathers, but he took a real pounding in games like that as the opposition were desperate to focus on him.”
The 2007 Heineken Cup final saw Wasps come out with a glowering intensity, knocking Leicester out of their stride. Rees had played alongside Dallaglio in that game and recalls a similar start a year on:
“The 2007 final wasn't spoken about too much but you are always aware that if Leicester get in front they will grind it out; they were expert at wearing people down.
“They are the most consistent team in English rugby and you don't want to be chasing the game against them. We started with a monstrous intensity.” Dallaglio was central to that approach.
Wasps full-back Mark van Gisbergen kicked a penalty after five minutes, Andy Goode responded in kind for the Tigers shortly afterwards but then Wasps gained reward for their pulsating start when Rees made the hard yards to finish off a multi-phase attack, ignited by Eoin Reddan's break.
“It was not the most glamorous try ever scored in a final,” the former England flanker recalls modestly. “We had made a bit of a breakthrough in the 22 and then got close to the line. I remember burrowing in and James Haskell driving me over the line.”
Van Gisbergen converted to make the score 10-3.
Danny Cipriani had suffered a serious ankle injury in the semi-final victory over Bath so Riki Flutey assumed fly-half duties. Fortunately for Wasps Flutey stepped up to the mark in prime form, building towards making his England debut later in 2008 and would be a British & Irish Lion in a year's time. A cute Flutey sidestep and burst splintered the Leicester defence and the Tigers were forced into conceding a penalty in their 22, which Van Gisbergen duly knocked over.
Alesana Tuilagi, who had bludgeoned Gloucester to defeat in the previous season's Premiership final, exhibited his power with a 40-metre rumble just before the half-hour mark which led to a Goode reducing Leicester's deficit to 13-6. It merely stoked Wasps' resolve.
“There was a ferociousness which you simply can't do every week. You delve into a level of emotion and it was typical of the character of the players we had,” adds Lewsey.
Wasps finished the opening 40 with a blitz which effectively won the match. They had assumed ascendancy up front and used their power runners to lurch the Leicester defence this way and that. Van Gisbergen nudged them 16-6 ahead with his third penalty of the game and then Wasps delivered a stunning blow to the Tigers' morale just before the break. Dallaglio drove his team from their own half, linking with Simon Shaw and Rees, before Lewsey latched on to the ball and out-paced the Leicester cover to score. Van Gisbergen's fifth successful kick gave them a crucial 17-point advantage.
Amid this euphoric end to the half, Rees recalls a resolute feet-on-the-ground atmosphere in the dressing room: “There was no ranting and raving, we were very focused. There was no slapping on backs, just an acknowledgment that there was far more to do.”
Lewsey adds: “Lawrence is one of the greatest motivators I have known. He would put his arm around your shoulder or give you a kick up the backside depending on the circumstances. But, as a team the mental fortitude that we displayed I have not seen in any other walk of life.
“It was a team effort. We had a bunch of leaders and had shared ownership. The media obviously focused just on Lawrence, being his last game, but to us it was a team occasion and frankly we ignored all the media nonsense surrounding him.
“The greatest respect we could pay him was to ignore all that and focus on the performance not the occasion. That showed a real professional hardness and will to win. In many ways that's the characteristic he perpetuated most and thus understood.”
A lack of match fitness saw Phil Vickery replaced by Pat Barnard at half-time and Tigers made a change in midfield with former Wasp Ayoola Erinle taking over from Dan Hipkiss. The champions would not give up their crown lightly and threw everything at Dallaglio's side from Wayne Barnes' whistle. Only desperate defence prevented Harry Ellis from touching down.
The storm was weathered until a speculative Goode kick caused all sorts of problems in the Wasps defence. Future Wasp Tom Varndell picked up the loose ball and strode to the line.
More uncertainty for Wasps was caused by Tim Payne going off on the hour. With only one prop among the replacements in those days, this forced Barnes to order uncontested scrums for the remainder of the match and Tigers seized the initiative from the first of them. Ellis picked up from the base and ran in unopposed on the blindside. Goode missed the conversion but the lead had been cut to 23-16 with 15 minutes to go.
With the trophy on the line, if Wasps needed any reminding of the special circumstance swirling around Twickenham this day it came with 12 minutes to go when Dallaglio made his final exit from top-flight rugby, to a huge standing ovation.
Rees recalls: “We were pretty tired but when Ellis scored everyone snapped back to attention and then when Lawrence went off we were witness to the final moment of one of the greatest rugby careers. Even in the middle of a final it is important to recognise where you are.
“Typically Lawrence didn't make any fuss, he barked out a few instructions, pointed at the scoreboard and went off. There was no fanfare; he knew that the job wasn't done.” As if inspired by their captain's departure, Wasps stepped up a gear again. Flutey engineered an opening and Lewsey went close before Van Gisbergen raised his personal tally to 16 points.
Goode missed a golden opportunity to respond to end a desperate display from the tee which reaped just two successes from six attempted penalties and Leicester were sunk.
Dallaglio joined his team on the Twickenham pitch for the celebrations, an experience they had grown used to over the previous six seasons. So what was the key to Wasps becoming serial achievers on the big days?
“I played in 13 finals in my professional career and was fortunate enough to win all of those,” Lewsey responds. “The key reason for that was that the team, and each individual within it, were able to raise their game on the biggest stage.
“Big match players deliver when it matters most! That is a mental thing. Lawrence was certainly one of those players who performed to the edge of their ability on such occasions. Playing at your absolute physical and emotional limit, performing with that level of brutal intensity, was special. As such with an explosive start and committing few errors aligned to our unique defence meant it was always very hard for teams to play catch-up rugby once we had a lead.”
Dallaglio said afterwards that winning the Premiership, having been tenth at Christmas, was the club's greatest achievement. That was some statement from a man who had presided over four Premiership and two Heineken Cup victories.
“It was the end of an era,” admits Lewsey. “For a team to dominate and to have won all those trophies over that period; if you look at English club rugby, we set the bar to a higher level.”
Rees adds: “It was a special moment. We had been spoiled for success over those years. No-one took it for granted, we had earned it through hard work.”
So Dallaglio bowed out in the best possible way, and Waters joined him in the pantheon of departed Wasps legends. Surely that was the cue for a special send-off? Not a bit of it, that was not the Wasps way.
“It was business as usual afterwards…we went out and had a good time. Great players have always been acknowledged and thanked when they leave Wasps but it's about the team. That didn't change and both Lawrence and Fraser wouldn't have wanted it any other way.”
TEAMS
London Wasps: Van Gisbergen, Sackey, Waters, Waldouck, Lewsey, Flutey, Reddan, Payne, Ibanez, Vickery, Shaw, Palmer, Haskell, Rees, Dallaglio (capt). Replacements: Ward, Barnard, Birkett, Worsley, McMillan, Staunton, Hart
Leicester Tigers: Murphy, Varndell, Hipkiss, Mauger, Tuilagi, Goode, Ellis, Stankovich, Davies, White, Wentzel, Kay, Corry (capt), Herring, Crane. Replacements: Kayser, Ayerza, Blaze, Croft, Laussucq, Vesty, Erinle
