British and Irish Lions

Departing director of rugby Warren Gatland paid a glowing tribute to the performances of British & Irish Lions pair Lawrence Dallaglio and Josh Lewsey after Wasps clinched the Zurich Premiership title with a 39-14 win over Leicester at Twickenham.

Tom Voyce, Mark van Gisbergen and Rob Hoadley may have scored the tries, van Gisbergen adding three conversions and five penalties to go with Alex King's drop goal, but it was the displays by Dallaglio and Lewsey that will have most impressed Lions coach Sir Clive Woodward and which augurs well for this summer's tour to New Zealand.

They certainly impressed Waikato Chiefs-bound Gatland, who declared: "Lawrence Dallaglio is the best leader in the game that I've ever seen."

"He is the sort of player you want to be in the trenches and he was first over the top today.

"Lawrence did a great job with the guys at half-time. Emotionally we were right there and we came out and scored first in the second half.

"As for Josh Lewsey, some of his tackles in the first 20 minutes were awesome. That really set the tone for us," Gatland added.

The Waratahs upset the odds by beating Super Rugby leaders the Brumbies 28-22, but the game came at a huge cost to Qantas Wallabies coach Robbie Deans.

Lions skipper Sam Warburton says the lessons he and his Welsh colleagues learnt in Australia last summer will stand them in good stead for their return visit with Britain and Ireland's elite next month.