“And we’re expecting it to be a pretty good standard,” says Dyl, who, at 48, is determined to resist the temptation to dig his own boots out from under the stairs.Not that Bridlington particularly needed him against a Sunderland side with no less than 12 players unavailable because of a combination of the Bank Holiday weekend and the rugby union season still dragging on. Brid won and Dyl would not have felt out of his era if he had played, because among their substitutes was 48-year-old Cyril Hodgson, the sole survivor of the original Bridlington club when it was set up in 1984 ­ a time when playing through the summer would have seemed a wild eyed idea.He is a mere youngster alongside a 59-year-old rumoured to have been registered by Sunderland; if they get many more withdrawals he could have to play. For a first outing, this more than satisfied Dyl: “A few of their team didn’t turn up, so it was pretty obvious they were struggling,” he said. “We’ve got some harder games coming up, but it was played in the right spirit and there were some rugby league fans here to see it, including some from Bradford on their way to Castleford.”The followers of the other Bulls had seen some excellent rugby, with the wing Mike Bell and the long-striding second-rower Gareth Jackson both claiming two tries. Of the other Conference newcomers, Newcastle won 52-12 at Crewe, while Teesside thrashed Durham 76-4.. Say it ain’t so Joe, say it ain’t so. Not so much the classic cri de coeur to Shoeless Joe Jackson about taking the money and throwing a baseball World Series in America as an image of a kid wrapped in a Wasps jersey talking to the hapless Joe Worsley on the announcement of the Lions squad to tour Australia this summer Unfortunately for Joe it was so

Say it ain’t so Joe, say it ain’t so.

Not so much the classic cri de coeur to Shoeless Joe Jackson about taking the money and throwing a baseball World Series in America as an image of a kid wrapped in a Wasps jersey talking to the hapless Joe Worsley on the announcement of the Lions squad to tour Australia this summer. Unfortunately for Joe it was so.
A week last Wednesday Worsley had finished training with Wasps when Nigel Melville, the director of rugby, gave him the bad news. “You’re not in,” Melville told him, without putting too fine a point on it.”I didn’t say anything,” Worsley said “I just walked off. I drove home, put some music on and had a quiet time to myself I didn’t want to talk about anything to anyone. It’s a massive blow if you don’t make your goals.” His first goal, which he achieved, was to play in the 1999 World Cup; his second to become a Lion this summer “I thought I’d done enough to get in It’s not like athletics where you can compare times. It’s a subjective thing.”The England back row of Lawrence Dallaglio, Richard Hill and Neil Back were automatic choices, as was the Welsh No 8, Scott Quinnell, but Worsley and his England squad colleague Martin Corry lost out to Simon Taylor, Colin Charvis and Martyn Williams.”The selectors obviously had their reasons,” Worsley said, although they were never explained to him “I never heard a word from them.

I’m not sure whether I’m expected to ring them up and ask.”Worsley played against Taylor, as a replacement, in England’s six-try victory over Scotland at Twickenham. “I didn’t notice any of their players.” On 14 June, instead of being in Brisbane with the Lions, he will be celebrating his 24th birthday in San Francisco on England’s tour of Canada and America.Worsley does not regard it as a compensatory trip, although he does see it as an opportunity to score some points with the manager, Clive Woodward. “I have not been happy about not starting for England, but I should be by the end of this tour. I hope Clive Woodward will think the same for the autumn internationals.”During last autumn’s programme, Worsley found himself sandwiched between a furious England manager and the players’ strike. As emergency meetings took place between the players’ ring-leaders and the Rugby Football Union at the Pennyhill Park Hotel near Bagshot, Worsley was dispatched by team-mates to reception to order coffee and sandwiches.No sooner had he got to smoked salmon on brown than Woodward walked past, stopped and barked to Worsley: “Cancel that” “I kept my mouth shut,” Worsley said. “It was not the time to be talking about anything as frivolous as sandwiches.” The order was duly cancelled.”The threatened strike was a horrible decision for everyone to make but it has resulted in a more professional relationship between the players and the RFU, and the tour to North America is an example. We’ve already got 28 to 30 players any team from which could beat most international sides.”Ask Dallaglio about Worsley and the Wasps captain taps the side of his head with his forefinger and says: “Very, very smart.” The two have been playing alongside each other since before the game went professional, and today they will be attempting to drive Wasps to victory over Bath at Loftus Road in the semi-finals of the Zurich Championship, a heavyweight title eliminator if ever there was one.Worsley, who was born in Romford and moved to Nick Faldo country, Welwyn Garden City, as a youngster, joined Wasps when he was 16.

At 18 he became the youngest player to represent England Under-21s and the same year, with the onset of professionalism, Wasps were asset-stripped when Rob Andrew and company moved to Newcastle.It left Dallaglio as a young captain with Worsley, who can play anywhere in the back row, as an even younger pretender. “By watching him I saw what was required, although we’re very different players and people,” Worsley said “We don’t worry about it if Lawrence isn’t playing. I’ve managed to fill in for him quite well.”This season Wasps, under the ownership of Chris Wright, have come on very strong in the Premiership “This is our third year as a real team,” Worsley said. “We’re a lot more mature as a squad and I think we could have won the league In fact we’re kicking ourselves for not winning it All credit to Leicester. Whereas we lost a few in injury time they have the experience to win close matches.” Like the first encounter of the season, when Austin Healey scored the match-winner at Loftus Road in the fourth minute of injury time.That was when Wasps were training at their old Sudbury ground, which resembled a building site.