The 16-month-old son of former All Black Roger Randle has drowned in the family swimming pool at Bourgoin, France, according to media reports last night.
Waikato Chiefs chief executive Gary Dawson said yesterday he had received confirmation of the tragedy.
It is understood 31-year-old Randle was not at home, but away with
his team, Bourgoin-Jallieu, at the time.
Hastings-born Randle, a former Magpie, was accused of raping a woman in a Durban hotel in 1997 when he was with the Hurricanes, but the woman later withdrew the complaint and the charges were dropped.
He won two Commonwealth Games gold medals, with the New Zealand sevens team at the 1998 and 2002 Games and played two midweek games for the All Blacks on their 2001 tour of Ireland and Scotland.
His last first-class rugby match in New Zealand was for the Waikato in the 2004 NPC.
