Lol: Play-offs help England

9:39am Wednesday 28th May 2008

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WASPS captain Lawrence Dallaglio has defended the fact that the teams finishing second and fourth after the regular season will contest the Guinness Premiership Grand Final on Saturday.

He said: "People are moaning about the fact that it should still be first past the post.

"Well you can't continue to develop and grow home-grown players with that system, under the current season structure. If it was first past the post we would have to completely change our recruitment policy.

"For all those people who argue against the play-off system, you have to temper club rugby with the future and health of the England team.

"Therefore, there is no argument. It has to stay this way otherwise all clubs will start looking overseas for their players.

"We don't want to go down the route of football, where it 70 per cent one way and 30 per cent the other, while rugby is roughly the other way around."