Dawson - chirpy character.
Matt Dawson
Born: 31.10.72
Height: 5ft 10in
Weight: 13st 10lb
Position: Scrum-half
Club: Northampton
Caps: 61
Points: 96
A chirpy character on the field, Dawson had the honour of leading England on their tour of Australia in 1998 and gained many admirers for the way he led the side in adversity.
The successful World Cup campaign and his displays of canny tactical awareness looked to have won him an extended run No 9 shirt for his own, seeing off stiff competition from Kyran Bracken.
But it was Andy Gomarsall who got the nod for the first two Six Nations games with Dawson short of game-time.
The Northampton man returned for the Twickenham clash with Ireland, though, and did enough despite the defeat to hold onto his spot against Wales.
As the link from the possession-winning forwards to the points-winning backs, Dawson is a key cog in the England machine - and showed in his World Cup final performance against Australia's George Gregan that he cannot be dominated by an opposing scrum-half.
However, looking at the tournament as a whole his distribution was not perfect with low or poor passes stifling promising opportunities, and sometimes forcing the three-quarters to catch on the back foot.
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