Dallaglio blasts short-sighted England for not making use of Edwards and Woodward

Dallaglio is convinced the far thinking of Sir Clive Woodward and the coaching brilliance of Shaun Edwards ought to be harnessed in a set-up that would be the envy of the world. Yet both have been lost to English rugby.

Critical of current England coach Brian Ashton in the aftermath of last autumn's World Cup in France, Dallaglio believes that foundations have been allowed to crumble instead of built upon.

He said: 'How we as a sport could allow a man who delivered a World Cup to walk away from rugby into another sport seems to me to be pretty silly.

'The role of performance director would have been perfect for Clive Woodward, yet it took four years after winning the World Cup before we appointed Rob Andrew for the role.

'Clive would not have rested on his laurels. If he disagrees with something, he lets it be known.

'He created a legacy and I do think that we've taken steps backwards since then in terms of the standards set. He introduced systems that produced a World Cup triumph for the country.

'There's no doubt that England are on the right path, that Brian Ashton has a huge amount to offer English rugby and that the victory in Paris will serve as a reference point for the players for the rest of their careers, but it worries me that we still don't seem to have a succession plan in place.

'We've been saying for a while that English rugby is ready for an overhaul, but we haven't quite had one yet.

'It also worries me that we can allow our best coach to go and coach Wales. Shaun Edwards has won six or seven trophies as a coach. You get picked for England as a player by proving yourself time and again. You would think it would be the same for a coach.'

One of the systems Woodward introduced was sight training inspired by South African expert Cheryl Calder.

The England players, armed with new technology, spent an hour each day testing and improving the aspects of vision that could help them on the rugby field.

Woodward's players, led by video game addict Mike Tindall, improved not just their hand-eye co-ordination but their peripheral vision, eye movement, dynamic and momentary vision on their hand-held machines.

The ideas have been absorbed into a Sight Training programme on the Nintendo DS, so what is good for the England players in improving their awareness of what is happening on the field can be applied to club hackers, or even hacks — although, as Dallaglio will testify after taking a bunch of journalists for a training session this week, no machine has been invented for implanting talent where there is next to none.

The sight training technique was nevertheless indicative of Woodward's own vision of a rugby future which foresaw glory for England.

Dallaglio said: 'Clive is an innovator, a pioneer and he reversed the trend of us copying the southern hemisphere nations and being a year behind them.

'He said "Instead, we're going to make them follow us" and created an environment in which that could happen.

'He might have been mocked a little on the outside but we embraced his methods as players.

'You can't quantify the effect that sight training has, for example, but you know it improves you as a player.

'And when we added all those one per cents that we gained, either in diet, fitness or different techniques, it turned us into World Cup winners.'