ENGLAND star Lawrence Dallaglio yesterday revealed how 'Dad's Army' taunts gave his side the ammunition to defeat Australia in the World Cup final.
The jibe first emerged during the summer tour Down Under when the age of England's pack provided the press in New Zealand and Australia with several headlines and plenty of amusement.
Successive victories over the All Blacks and Wallabies quickly proved England's tormentors wrong but that did not prevent the likes of Toutai Kefu and David Campese from recycling the phrase over the last six weeks.
Australia number eight Kefu - ruled out of the tournament with injury - repeated the insult in his newspaper column while serial Pommie-basher Campese also suggested that England's pack was starting to creak.
But ultimately it worked against their team.
"A lot of what was said just served to give us more motivation to win, especially when it came from one of their players," said the Wasps back rower.
"You expect it from outside their camp - that was effectively down to their insecurity and because they saw us as a threat.
"But when it comes to their players it just throws fuel on to a highly-charged group of men. From the media themselves it was all good banter - there was a full-page apology in one paper so I think most of it was fairly tongue-in-cheek."
The Australian media has certainly won few fans in England - a representative from a Sydney newspaper was roundly booed when he announced his identity before asking a question at yesterday morning's press conference in Bagshot.
