Woodward Holy Trinity were just untouchable

Brendan Gallagher delves into some of rugby’s most enduring images, their story and why they are still so impactful

- Brendan Gallagher

What happening here?

It’s November 22, 2003 at the Olympic Stadium Sydney and the famed England back row of Lawrence Dallaglio, Richard Hill and Neil Back are taking it to the Aussies in the World Cup final. The three musketeers had been at the heart of everything good in Clive Woodward’s England team for the previous four years and now came the ultimate Test.

What’s the story behind the picture?

It seems obvious now that this illustrious trio be teamed up but England had faffed around for a while finding reasons to avoid the “obvious”. First, during the first half of his career, England weren’t really convinced that Neil Back was big enough to play international rugby and never gave him their full backing. It took the arrival of Clive Woodward for Back to be considered as a long-term proposition.

And then there was the versatility of Dallaglio and Hill. Hill could – and did – play Test rugby in all three back row positions as indeed did Dallaglio. But how to utilise their diverse talents? Both were probably natural blindsides but once Woodward decided he simply wanted his best three back rowers on the park the debate centred on which of them was best suited to No.8.

The other factor was that none of the trio were particularly tall at Test level but England still needed a lineout option at the tail. The spring-heeled Dallaglio was the obvious choice for that role and that was possibly the clincher.