Retiring Wasps captain Lawrence Dallaglio is driven by a desire for silverware rather than sentimentality as he gears up for the last great challenge of his glittering career.
Dallaglio will lead Wasps for the final time in Saturday’s Premiership title showdown against arch-rivals Leicester at Twickenham.
He may be an emotional man, but Dallaglio is steadfastly refusing to buy into the romance of the occasion and insists his sole focus is delivering success to a club he has served for the best part of two decades.
“Everyone has kept asking me ‘are you feeling any different, are you counting down the days until the end of the season’? The answer is no,” he said.
“I’ve just been focused on getting Wasps into this situation and hopefully across the line. The closer we’ve got to the final the calmer I have become.
“It’s the same situation for me as for any other player – it’s the last game of the season. It doesn’t feel any different. It might do in September, but certainly not at the moment.
“Wasps is a club that won before I got here and a club that will win long after I’m gone.
“The nice thing is being able to go out on my terms and I’ve got 80 minutes to try to achieve that.
“It’s going to be a massive challenge. Myself and my team have been in this situation many times before and we understand how to prepare for a big occasion.”
There are few bigger than Saturday, when a world-record crowd will be on hand to witness what is expected to be another titanic Wasps-Leicester battle.
Wasps have had the edge in recent years, spoiling Martin Johnson’s retirement party in the 2005 Premiership final and wrecking the Tigers’ treble ambitions last season by winning the Heineken Cup final.
Leicester exacted a modicum of revenge in this year’s Anglo-Welsh Cup semi-final and there is nothing the Tigers would like more than to deny Dallaglio the chance to walk off into retirement with a fifth Premiership winner’s medal round his neck.
“I am sure it will be a very tasty match,” said Dallaglio.
“In rugby union this is the rivalry. Nine titles between us and four Heineken Cups – I think that says it all.
“Whatever we do we seem to come up against each other all the time. We know what to expect.
“They’re the champions, we’re the challengers. It will be a Test match in everything but name and we are bang up for the challenge.
“We’ll be trying to win a trophy we haven’t won for a little while now.”
