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LONDON - Lawrence Dallaglio hit back angrily at suggestions by former captain Will Carling that his presence in England's World Cup rugby squad was dividing the team.
"I'm just not a divisive person," the 35-year-old former England captain said.
"I've been brought in for the things I can
do, and that includes bringing people together rather than splitting them apart.
"I'm not too worried about what Will thinks. His comment was almost so irrelevant as not to be worth reading."
Carling this week said: "Sometimes the nature of someone like Lawrence can be a problem in a squad if he's not a captain and there are not very strong guys to keep him in check.
"They are obviously not going to make him captain at the World Cup. And if you take him, does he end up being divisive if he's not in the team?"
World Cup winner Dallaglio, who succeeded Carling as England captain, said: "I always thought Will was a decent bloke. I'm not sure now.
"It's hard to know where he has got that kind of assessment from, given that he is standing a long, long way away from the squad."
England play France on Sunday (NZT) in their final warmup match before the World Cup begins on September 7.
First five-eighth Jonny Wilkinson defended coach Brian Ashton's choice of squad amid `Dad's Army' jibes with the average age being 29.
"These guys are in great physical condition," Wilkinson said.
"I'd say that if you spoke to them, most of them would say they are better than they've ever been. That speaks for itself.
"It's very much an individual thing but I can tell you for myself that with all of the injuries I've had, I don't think I've ever been as in control or ready to go and prepared as I am right now physically.
"That's a positive for us to feed off and hopefully there are a few good years ahead of me as well."
Ahead of Sunday's match in Marseille, that follows last week's 15-21 loss to France at Twickenham, Wilkinson said: "Win or lose this game we have to show that we're in it until the end.
"We know we're going to have to fight for every single yard in the field and that will continue until the 85th minute. We have to give ourselves a chance of winning.
"The time for learning and allowing information to set in is getting shorter and we have to start seeing a bit more of the finished article."
- AFP