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.

Initially the combination was somewhat awkward. Back, due 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.

The combination was first employed against South Africa during the 1997 Autumn internationals. In their second match together against New Zealand, England played brilliantly and were able to storm to an unexpected 23-9 half time lead, but ended drawing the match 26-26. 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 and subsequently retired from international football. Hill carried on playing for another year but injury ended his international career. Dallaglio continued until the 2008 World Cup.

Matches started

1 1997 South Africa Twickenham L 29-112 1997 New Zealand Twickenham D 26-263 1998 France Paris L 24-174 1998 Wales Twickenham W 60-265 1998 Australia Twickenham L 12-116 1998 South Africa Twickenham W 13-77 1999 Scotland Twickenham W 24-218 1999 Ireland Dublin W 27-159 1999 France Twickenham W 21-1010 1999 Wales Wembley L 32-3111 1999 USA Twickenham W 106-812 1999 Canada Twickenham W 36-1113 1999 Italy Twickenham W 67-714 1999 New Zealand Twickenham L 30-1615 1999 South Africa Paris L 44-2116 2000 Ireland Twickenham W 50-1817 2000 France Paris W 15-918 2000 Wales Twickenham W 46-1219 2000 Italy Rome W 59-1220 2000 Scotland Murrayfield L 19-1321 2000 South Africa Pretoria L 18-1322 2000 South Africa Bloemfontein W 27-2223 2000 Australia Twickenham W 22-1924 2000 Argentina Twickenham W 19-025 2000 South Africa Twickenham W 25-1726 2001 Wales Cardiff W 44-1527 2001 Italy Twickenham W 80-2328 2001 Scotland Twickenham W 43-329 2001 France Twickenham W 48-1930 2002 Australia Twickenham W 32-3131 2003 Wales Cardiff W 26-932 2003 Scotland Twickenham W 40-933 2003 Ireland Dublin W 42-634 2003 New Zealand Wellington W 15-1335 2003 Australia Melbourne W 25-1436 2003 Georgia Perth W 84-637 2003 France Sydney W 24-738 2003 Australia Sydney W 20-17

Overall statistics

Played 38, Won 29, Drew 1, Lost 8.