World Cup winning legend misses out on Lawrence Dallaglio’s greatest England XV

For about 20 years, the title of England’s greatest ever fly-half, or even greatest ever player, was a landslide in favour of World Cup winning hero Jonny Wilkinson. But those days seem to be over.

The former World Rugby player of the year missed the cut in a recent ‘England’s Greatest XV’ in favour of current captain Owen Farrell, compiled by none other than Wilkinson’s own teammate in 2003 Lawrence Dallaglio.

Joining Jim Hamilton on The Big Jim Show recently, the No8 opted for Farrell at fly-half over Wilkinson which would have been an unthinkable call just a couple of years ago. He explained his reasoning: “I’d probably have Farrell at No10. I just think, he just needs to win a World Cup. He’s won everything else. He just needs to win a World Cup, and probably deserves to. So I’d have him in at No10.

“Jonny was a brillaint rugby player, won us a lot of games, won us a World Cup final, but if you put Farrell in that team, England win as well.”

In contrast, Hamilton picked Farrell at fly-half and Wilkinson at inside centre.

Dallaglio’s team included 11 members of the 2003 World Cup winning squad, although neither Jason Leonard nor Kyran Bracken started in the final. Both were on the bench, but only Leonard actually made it onto the pitch in the victory over Australia.

Take a look at their teams:

Jim Hamilton’s XV
1. Ellis Genge
2. Jamie George
3. Phil Vickery
4. Martin Johnson
5. Courtney Lawes
6. Lawrence Dallaglio
7. Lewis Moody
8. Billy Vunipola
9. Harry Ellis
11. James Simpson-Daniel
10. Owen Farrell
12. Jonny Wilkinson
13. Manu Tuilagi
14. Jack Nowell
15. Jason Robinson
Lawrence Dallaglio’s XV
1. Jason Leonard
2. Jamie George
3. Phil Vickery
4. Martin Johnson
5. Maro Itoje
6. Richard Hill
7. Neil Back
8. Lawrence Dallaglio
9. Kyran Bracken
10. Owen Farrell
11. Ben Cohen
12. Manu Tuilagi
13. Will Greenwood
14. Jason Robinson
15. Josh Lewsey