Matt Stevens will return to rugby with Saracens in 2011 © Getty Images

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Players/Officials: Lawrence Dallaglio | Matt Stevens

Tournaments/Tours: Guinness Premiership

Teams: England | Saracens

Lawrence Dallaglio has backed Matt Stevens to force his way back into the England setup after the banned prop announced his comeback with Saracens.

Stevens will join Sarries upon the completion of his two-year ban for drugs offences in January 2011 and World Cup-winner Dallaglio believes he will soon be knocking on the door at international level.

"Matt is proven at the highest level and I am sure he will come back not just at that level but he has the potential to become an even better player than he was before," he said. "He will end up being even more determined because failure does fuel success. He will be fuelled by a desire to prove people wrong and silence the doubters.

"You don't run before you can walk and he will have to put down some foundations and he has got to find out where he is at - but if his track record is anything to go by it won't take him too long to get back on track."

Dallaglio, a director at Wasps, had offered Stevens a way back into the game at the club, feeling that the authorities had not done enough to support him.

"The message I was trying to get across was that it is okay to make a mistake and you shouldn't shut the door on people who have done because we always make mistakes," he said. "Far from being given any sympathy or any leniency he was given the maximum possible ban - which is not always the case worldwide. We have seen things go the other way, particularly in France.

"Hopefully he can get his career back to where we all think it can get to - and in doing so probably become a role model for people who are tempted to make similar mistakes themselves. Good luck to him."

Dallaglio also believes that the presence of England skipper Steve Borthwick, a former Bath team-mate of Stevens, at Saracens was a deciding factor.

"He always had a solid relationship with Steve Borthwick," he said. "They always got on and respected each other as rugby individuals and I think that may have had far more to do with it than the financial side of it."

Dallaglio was speaking at the launch of a grassroots scheme, organised in conjunction with the Rugby Football Union and Sacla, to increase youth participation and hopefully uncover the next Jonny Wilkinson.