Dallaglio: Legacy

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Tom Rees has admitted that the loss of the retired Lawrence Dallaglio will leave a huge hole in Wasps' squad next season.

Speaking after Dallaglio celebrated his retirement with a fourth league title in six seasons, Rees, who is in contention to take over a captain, said that the inspirational skipper would be sorely missed.

But he added that the legacy left by Dallaglio, whose 339 appearances included seven unbeaten Twickenham finals as captain, four Premiership crowns, two Heineken Cups and an Anglo-Welsh success, would help them continue their success.

Confident

"We will all miss Lawrence a huge amount," he said. "He has brought a huge presence to the team, both as a player and a leader.

"And I am confident from that mentality he has worked really hard to instil we will go forward from here.

"Guys like Lawrence don't come around too often, so you need someone (as captain) who is going to be fairly comfortable with that weight on his shoulders.

"We have been built around Lawrence, and now, hopefully, we will move forward.

"Lawrence has made the point clear - it has never been about him, it has been about Wasps.

"He didn't talk about how he felt or about doing this for himself, it's always been about us as a collective.

"Whoever gets given it (the captaincy), we will get behind him and get on with it.

"I don't think there is a need for a fuss surrounding it because the guys will get behind whoever gets the armband."

Fantastic

A world record club match crowd of 81,600 watched Dallaglio's farewell on Saturday, which ended in a 26-16 victory over arch-rivals Leicester.

Wasps rugby director Ian McGeechan said: "I never thought I would see a game when the Wasps fans outnumbered Leicester in the crowd. That was down to Lawrence.

"He is a fantastic example. He plays with emotion, talks with it and leads with it. That rubs off on the players and the coaches that he is involved with."

England World Cup winner Dallaglio, who will continue to work for Wasps in a business role next season, paid tribute to his team.

He said: "I have been spoiled at Twickenham, not just for Wasps but for England. It is a great place to play rugby.

"This was a phenomenal effort from everyone involved in the club. I am very proud.

"It is great to be able to call yourself champions of England. To be a great club you need to be able to win the title.

"We have had some great days in the last few years, but given where we were after the World Cup this is probably our greatest achievement."

The 35-year-old added that he was looking forward to his new role behind the scenes.

"On the pitch we are in great health," He said. "We have a fantastic set of coaches, a fantastic squad and we will look to try and develop that.

"But there are bigger challenges off the field. Rugby is about to take another leap into the next level of professionalism.

"There are clubs around the country and in Europe playing in big stadiums, the tills ringing every week and the budgets are getting bigger.

"There is no doubt players make huge sacrifices to be at Wasps because they want to be in that environment, they want to win.

"But we need to be able to boast some of the best stadiums in the country, the best squad and the best stadium.

"One of the challenges I face is to make that happen and to bring the business in line with the excellence we have demonstrated on the field."