LONDON (AFP) - England's 2003 World Cup winning flanker Lawrence Dallaglio admitted on Sunday that just because he had been a great player did not mean he would automatically become a great coach.

The 35-year-old told BBC radio that he would have to be humble and earn the respect that comes with qualifying as a coach before he could feel he was on the right track.

"I am realistic enough to understand that to transfer from being a player to a coach is not something one can take for granted," said Dallaglio, who was also a member of the England squad that surprisingly made the 2007 World Cup final where they lost to South Africa.

"While you do develop a certain number of skills that are relevant to coaching, there is also a number of skills that one needs to learn and develop away from the game. I don't think you can just suddenly walk into an England dressing room and start coaching England.

"You have to earn your badge and respect and coaching is something I would love to do in the future," added Dallaglio, who was scathing in his autobiography released after the World Cup about England coach Brian Ashton.

Dallaglio, scorer of 17 tries in his 85 tests since making his debut in 1995, admitted if he does acquire the necessary skills and make a success of it then his dream would be to coach England.

"It is something I would love to be able to do but I think you have to be humble as a coach," said Dallaglio, who had a two year spell as England captain brought to a halt in 1999 over allegations of drugtaking which he denied.

"You have to go away and learn a different skill set and if that turns out to be something you are good at then obviously you would earn the right to coach England.

"But I have still got six more months and will be working very hard to make sure Wasps win as many of those games as I've got left," added Dallaglio, who has been at Wasps since 1990 and led them to two European Cup trophies.

England's World Cup winning coach Sir Clive Woodward believes Dallaglio has the potential to be a great coach.

"The great thing about Lawrence is that he is incredibly bright and he would not put himself in a position that he didn't think he could handle.

"I think he would want to coach at a club and prove to people that he could do it."