Wasps Will Wander Again As Dallaglio Steps Back

London Wasps begin the defence of their Premiership crown at Twickenham this weekend without the totemic presence of Lawrence Dallaglio, whose last match was the title-deciding victory over Leicester in front of a full house at the ground.

The 36-year-old Dallaglio will, however, be a key figure at Wasps in coming years as they have made him an associate director and, the club's director of rugby Ian McGeechan said yesterday, the former England captain may in future years help coach the side.

"He needs a bit of a break but Lawrence may appear in the second team to help him prepare for a charity game at Twickenham later this month and we'd be crazy not to draw on his expertise," McGeechan said.

The champions, who kick off the season against London Irish on Saturday afternoon, are also continuing with plans to move into a purpose-built ground. Tony Copsey, the Wasps chief executive, said the ground-share with Wycombe Wanderers at Adams Park would continue for at least the next five years but he added: "In 10 years' time we have a vision of playing in a new stadium and we're not shutting the door on a potential move back to London. Brentford and Dartford are a couple of options and we should know more by Christmas."

The club is also looking this winter to continue taking one or more Heineken Cup ties away from Adams Park, which has a capacity of only 10,000. In the meantime, McGeechan and the head coach, Shaun Edwards, know that Wasps will have to repeat their feat of last season of coping without a raft of internationals for much of the season before timing their run-in to the play-offs.

McGeechan said: "Last year the season was out of kilter for us and we suffered by supporting England. But we had Lawrence Dallaglio, Josh Lewsey and Raphaël Ibanez during the Six Nations and to lose only twice in the last six months of the season was a hell of an achievement. This season we will have to blood some young players. The likes of Hugo Ellis and Dominic Waldouck will be critical to our development."

Danny Cipriani, the Wasps fly-half whose broken ankle prevented him from being on England's calamitous trip to New Zealand in June, said yesterday he hopes to be back playing by early November.