The fact that an in-form Ireland team provide the opposition - and a genuine threat to England's record 22-match winning run at HQ - only adds to the occasion, according to Dallaglio.

"It's the first time you step onto the field at Twickenham as world champions and that must mean a huge amount to the players and the fans," said Dallaglio.

"I'm getting more and more excited by the day," added the England captain, who expects the World Cup factor to kick in with the crowd.

"Clearly the atmosphere in some of the games in Australia - particularly the last two - was wildly patriotic and colourful and a lot different from what we were used to.

"It will be interesting to see how much of that is carried over to Twickenham but I think you can expect a different atmosphere to anything any of us have ever seen before," he said.

Dallaglio, who has replaced recently retired World Cup skipper Martin Johnson as captain, will be leading England at Twickenham for the first time since the 21-10 victory over France five years ago.

But he insisted that, from a personal point of view, simply being in the team was far more important than captaining it.

"Obviously I'm very much looking forward to leading the team out but it's a very special day for everyone - for every England player and every England fan - so it would be wrong to make it more important for me than anyone else," he said.