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Wasps have used this period without rugby during the Covid-19 pandemic as an opportunity to compile a Legend XV as voted by fans. The team has been slowly taking shape over the past weeks before being fully revealed on social media. For one of England’s most successful clubs in the professional era, there are unsurprisingly some legends of the game in the XV.
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Eleven of this team played in either of the triumphant Heineken Cup finals in 2004 and 2007, with five – Simon Shaw, Joe Worsley, Lawrence Dallaglio, Josh Lewsey and Fraser Waters – starting both (with Mark van Gisbergen starting on the bench in the 2007 final).
Only two members of the team are still playing for Wasps, Joe Launchbury and Jimmy Gopperth, while only two more are still playing rugby, Joe Simpson and Danny Cipriani, who have both moved to Gloucester over the past two years.
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The Premiership’s fourth-highest all-time try scorer Christian Wade is another member of the team to still be active, but he has moved to American football as part of the Buffalo Bills squad.
Only two members of the team have not represented England, former Samoa hooker Trevor Leota and Jimmy Gopperth, who represented the Junior All Blacks.
And there we have it ladies and gentleman, your Legend XV as voted by you, the fans.
Feel like your favourite players may still be missing? Stay tuned for this afternoon's post where we will be giving fans the tools to select their own XV#ReconnectingTheNest
@VodafoneUKBiz pic.twitter.com/Vmlqr6QuB8— Wasps Rugby (@WaspsRugby) May 6, 2020
Three players started in the 2003 World Cup final for England, Phil Vickery, Dallaglio and Lewsey, with Shaw and Worsley also being part of the squad. It’s understandable that a number of players from England’s strong outfit in the 2000s are in this team, as their era of dominance roughly mirrored Wasps’.
While there are those that made a name for themselves for England, and also the British and Irish Lions, none more so that longstanding captain Dallaglio, there are some that never got the international recognition they deserved.
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Outside centre Waters is one player that only managed three caps for England but was adored by Wasps supporters and was instrumental in their revolutionary blitz defence under Shaun Edwards that defined the club as they won three consecutive Premiership titles.
As far as teams go, few clubs in England could rival a team like this given that silverware Wasps have won.
