Hill, Back, Dallaglio
Hill, Back, Dallaglio was a back row combination used by the English rugby union team over the period 1997-2003, under coach Clive Woodward. It consisted of blindside flanker (#6) Richard Hill (Saracens), openside flanker (#7) Neil Back (Leicester Tigers) and number eight Lawrence Dallaglio (Wasps). The started a record 38 matches together, including the victorious 2003 World Cup final.
When the 1997 Autumn internationals came around the situation was thus. Dallaglio, aged 25, had won twelve caps since 1995, all at blindside flanker, where he also played for his club Wasps. Back was aged 28, and had five caps awarded in 1994 Five Nations and the 1995 Rugby World Cup; he had been GeneRally overlooked by successive coaches [...] Best and Jack Rowell because they considered him "too small" for international football. England had tended to historically play a conservative style of rugby that emphasised forward power and size over dynamism. Hill, then aged 24, had five caps. He had made his England debut under Rowell during the 1997 Five Nations and played in all four matches, plus the first Cook Cup match in the summer, alongside Dallaglio. Hill was hailed as the answer to England's openside problems, despite continued protests of Back's supporters such as former Australia coach Bob Dwyer .
All three men had been on the 1997 British Lions tour to South Africa in the summer. Dallaglio had started at blindside in all three tests, while Hill had started at openside in the first two tests, but Back had replaced him in the second and displaced him from the side for the third.
For his first two tests in charge (v. Australia at Twickenham and v. New Zealand at Old Trafford), new coach Clive Woodward went with Hill and Dallaglio on the flanks with Tony Diprose between them. Back won a cap off the bench against New Zealand , and impressed in a 25-8 loss enough to claim a starting spot. Unwilling to drop Hill for the next match against South Africa, Woodward switched Hill to blindside, and Dallaglio to 8. The Springboks won 29-11, but Woodward persisted with the combination for the next test versus New Zealand. In a famous match, England stormed to a 23-9 half-time lead before a second half FightBack from New Zealand saw the match end in a 26-26 draw.
Initially the combination was somewhat awkward. Back, due to his small size, was a specialist openside. Hill also routinely played openside for his club Saracens, but was switched to blindside to accommodate Back. Finally, Dallaglio, at the time principally a blindside flanker was moved to eight. Initially, Dallaglio was somewhat awkward at eight but he persuaded his club Wasps to play him there, and became more comfortable. Furthermore, none of the three was physical size of a traditional eight (such as Martin Corry). In that respect they were fortunate to working off a formidable front five usually including Martin Johnson. But despite these apparent drawbacks, it worked.
After losing the first test of the Summer tour v South Africa in 2000, England never again lost a match in which they started - a 17 match streak. After the 2003 World Cup Final, Back was dropped, having won 66 caps, and subsequently retired from international rugby. Hill carried on playing for another year but injury ended his international career. Dallaglio continued until the 2007 World Cup.
Matches started
1 1997 South Africa Twickenham L 29-11
2 1997 New Zealand Twickenham D 26-26
3 1998 France Paris L 24-17
4 1998 Wales Twickenham W 60-26
5 1998 Australia Twickenham L 12-11
6 1998 South Africa Twickenham W 13-7
7 1999 Scotland Twickenham W 24-21
8 1999 Ireland Dublin W 27-15
9 1999 France Twickenham W 21-10
10 1999 Wales Wembley L 32-31
11 1999 USA Twickenham W 106-8
12 1999 Canada Twickenham W 36-11
13 1999 Italy Twickenham W 67-7
14 1999 New Zealand Twickenham L 30-16
15 1999 South Africa Paris L 44-21
16 2000 Ireland Twickenham W 50-18
17 2000 France Paris W 15-9
18 2000 Wales Twickenham W 46-12
19 2000 Italy Rome W 59-12
20 2000 Scotland Murrayfield L 19-13
21 2000 South Africa Pretoria L 18-13
22 2000 South Africa Bloemfontein W 27-22
23 2000 Australia Twickenham W 22-19
24 2000 Argentina Twickenham W 19-0
25 2000 South Africa Twickenham W 25-17
26 2001 Wales Cardiff W 44-15
27 2001 Italy Twickenham W 80-23
28 2001 Scotland Twickenham W 43-3
29 2001 France Twickenham W 48-19
30 2002 Australia Twickenham W 32-31
31 2003 Wales Cardiff W 26-9
32 2003 Scotland Twickenham W 40-9
33 2003 Ireland Dublin W 42-6
34 2003 New Zealand Wellington W 15-13
35 2003 Australia Melbourne W 25-14
36 2003 Georgia Perth W 84-6
37 2003 France Sydney W 24-7
38 2003 Australia Sydney W 20-17Overall statistics
Played 38, Won 29, Drew 1, Lost 8.