Lawrence Dallaglio - England's 'pasta resistance'

By CHRIS RATTUE

He might have been the leader of this English Cup crusade, but for a nasty encounter with a tabloid newspaper.

Lawrence Dallaglio was primed for a long career as English captain before his downfall saw Martin Johnson become the commanding figure under Clive Woodward's rule.

Unfortunately for Dallaglio, the delights of champagne encouraged him to spin stories of drug use and dealing - involving cocaine and Ecstasy - to a woman who happened to be an undercover reporter.

Oops. Dallaglio wriggled free, claiming it was an idle "boast", but after 14 tests he was forced to hand over the captaincy before the 1999 World Cup.

Just what the supposed embodiment of square-jawed English rugby manhood was actually doing making pathetic claims about drug use to impress a young lady is hard to explain. Surely a few Will Carling anecdotes would have done the trick.

Anyway, the English union was satisfied with his explanation, and Dallaglio wore a minor reprimand and a £10,000 ($28,200) fine for bringing the game - not to mention himself - into disrepute.

Since then, he has overcome injuries and challengers to remain a prime English rugby weapon - a crunching defender and the forward likely to make the most ground.

Tragedy struck Dallaglio when his 19-year-old sister died in a boating tragedy in 1989, and his response was to throw himself into a rugby career.

Half-Italian, one quarter-Irish, he knocked back offers to play for those countries before wearing the English rose. Italy offered the teenaged Dallaglio inducements and Ireland approached him at the age of 23.

"I'd rather have played just four times for England than pick up 104 caps for Italy," commented Dallaglio, choosing instead to become the pasta-resistance in the English pack.

There is an old-fashioned simplicity to Dallaglio's game, if not his chat-up lines. With more than 58 tests since 1995, he has been a colossal figure, with his 110kg, raw-boned frame forcing opponents into retreat. The great New Zealand loosie Zinzan Brooke declared his admiration this year when he selected the 31-year-old on the bench in his all-time team of comrades and opponents.

You could see why, as No 8 Dallaglio rolled the All Blacks back in Wellington in June. If he is in a similar mood in Australia, and can get himself tucked up in bed safely at night, then World Cup opponents beware.

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