England appoint Dallaglio

Lawrence Dallaglio has been confirmed as England's captain for this season and next year's World Cup by coach Clive Woodward.

Dallaglio had captained England in last season's Five Nations competition, but lost the job when he pulled out of the awful Southern Hemisphere tour in the summer.

Dallaglio was unfit to tour, but has now given up the captaincy of Wasps and is guaranteed to stay in his new job until at least England's World Cup campaign is over.

Woodward overlooked the claims of Matt Dawson, who captained the tour of Australia and New Zealand in Dallaglio's absence.

The England coach said: "Lawrence did a superb job in his first spell as captain last season."

Dallaglio said: "I'm delighted to be re-appointed. I feel fully fit and have handed over the Wasps' captaincy so that I don't have to deal with the day to day issues of club matters."