Dallaglio plays down injury fears
February 2, 2003

Wasps' Lawrence Dallaglio played down fears that a shoulder injury sustained in the Zurich Premiership clash against Northampton would have repercussions for England.

The former national team captain Dallaglio picked up a knock in the 16-9 victory at Adams Park but did not expect to be out of action for too long.

"I broke from a right-hand scrum. It's not serious, but I will definitely be out of training for a few days," he said.

"It's very disappointing when you're going to train with England. I'm not the first guy to turn up with a slight knock and I'm sure I won't be the last."

Northampton head coach Wayne Smith accused Wasps of bad sportsmanship by not informing his side the kick-off had been delayed by 15 minutes because of road congestion and train delays.

An angry Smith said: "We got here too early, because other sides have had trouble getting to the ground recently and then the game was delayed 15 minutes and nobody told us.

"We had gone out and warmed up and I did wonder why Wasps were not out there. I don't call that good sportsmanship."

Smith said he now had two key players, Matt Dawson and Paul Grayson, injured, .

However, Wasps director of rugby Warren Gatland denied any bad sportsmanship, explaining that he was totally unaware Smith had not been told of the delay.

"The delay of the match was entirely due to the safety officer of the ground. It was made at 2.30pm," he said.

"I presumed that information got to the opposition team as well."

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