Lawrence Dallaglio may have played 14 of his first 23 internationals in the No 6 jersey, having opened his England career on the open-side, but it is as a No 8 that Dallaglio will be remembered, the position into which he slotted in 1999 and made his own. So now that he is gone, who will fill the shoes of so emblematic an individual, even if the last four of his 85 caps came from the bench?
Nick Easter, whose star soared so high in the space of one year, seized the jersey in 2007 and filled it so well that he played in a World Cup final. Easter is scarcely a wunderkind — he will be 30 this year — but England’s squad is full of individuals who, their thirtieth birthday having passed, still believe that an international future lies ahead and the Harlequin will be eager for more caps.
It is — or should be — Easter’s to lose this year, though a niggling knee injury has held him back in the past month. But he does not have to look far for rivals: Joe Worsley has played No 8 for England and could do again but another London Wasp, James Haskell, is the man with long-term aspirations, the flanker raised in the shadow of Dallaglio to such a degree that traits of the older man are evident in Haskell.
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These are not the only ones: lurking in the England Saxons squad are two uncapped players whose value to their respective clubs is growing apace. Luke Narraway is settling into the role at Gloucester after a long apprenticeship as one of those players whose work is often appreciated far more by his colleagues than by spectators, while up at Leicester, Jordan Crane has emerged as the heir apparent to Martin Corry.
Crane and Narraway are almost identical in height, about 6ft 3in, but the criticism that could be made of both is that they are not quite tall enough nor quick enough. As ever with back rows, it is a case of blend and balance; if, for example, England wanted to see what Tom Croft, of Leicester, is made of as a blind-side flanker and field Tom Rees or Lewis Moody on the open side, they will not be short of pace or height and Easter is not the quickest No 8 in the game anyway.
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But Easter has made a forceful case, for now. It seems clear that both Wasps and England consider Haskell a No 8 in waiting but are happy that his education continues elsewhere in the back row and, frankly, he could not learn from a better individual than Dallaglio, who will make the last four months of his playing career anything but a twilight.