By Julian Shea

Wasps captain Lawrence Dallaglio lifts the Heineken Cup in 2004

Wasps skipper Lawrence Dallaglio says many England players are not exposed to enough top European rugby.

The former England captain believes that other countries get more out of their players regularly taking part in the Heineken Cup.

"Look at Ireland, Scotland and Wales - their top players play in the tournament regularly," said Dallaglio.

"It benefits them internationally. But Jonny Wilkinson, for example, has only played in it once in his career."

He added: "There are a number of others who have never played in it or never will, while others play in it every year."

Dallaglio, who has spent his whole career at Wasps, has played regularly in Europe over the years, captaining Wasps' 2004 Cup-winning side.

He admitted the lure of playing Heineken Cup rugby was one of the reasons for staying with the club.

"I'm at Wasps because I love the club and have always wanted to win trophies, but trust me if they didn't qualify for the Heineken Cup on a regular basis I wouldn't be here," he said.

606: DEBATE How can England benefit more from the Heineken Cup?

"Guys like Wilkinson should be playing in it every year.

"Two or three clubs like Leicester and Wasps qualify on a regular basis, with the other places swapping between a number of other clubs, and that's not really satisfactory.

"That imbalance is something the English really need to address if we're going to move forward internationally, because it clearly does not favour the international scene."

Saturday's Heineken Cup quarter-final at Adams Park will be the first meeting between Wasps and Leinster and Dallaglio is expecting a testing encounter.

"They're top of the Celtic (Magners) League and there are some very good sides in it, so there can't be too many weaknesses," he said.

It's going to be a fascinating encounter between two teams who play the game the right way

"They've virtually got Ireland's back line, and I'm genuinely very sad that Brian O'Driscoll isn't playing as I'm a firm believer you want to see the best players on the pitch.

"A lot of people say it's our forwards versus their backs but I don't buy that.

"I've played against the likes of Keith Gleeson, they've got some tremendous forwards. It's going to be a fascinating encounter between two teams who play the game the right way.

"We're playing a quality side packed full of internationals so we know we've got to raise our game, but we've got the captains of England and France and a few others on our side."