DALLAGLIO'S 'CONFESSION' PUTS CAREER IN JEOPARDY

The England rugby union captain, Lawrence Dallaglio,faced the sack and the
end of his international career last night after being summoned to appear
before the RFU today to explain lurid sex and drug allegations in newspaper
reports yesterday.

Dallaglio, 26, who is due to lead England in the World Cup this October,
will appear before a four-man panel after allegedly admitting taking cocaine
and Ecstasy during a British tour of South Africa, and being a drug dealer
in his late teens. Although the union was adamant last night that he was
innocent until proven otherwise, it seems inevitable that he will be
stripped of the captaincy and withdrawn from the tour party which leaves for
Australia on Wednesday. If Dallaglio cannot explain the reports, he might
opt to resign.

Dallaglio, his agent Ashley Woolf, and his legal representative, have been
summoned this morning to appear before the panel which comprises Francis
Baron, the chief executive, Brian Baister, the chairman, Clive Woodward, the
coach, and Fran Cotton, the newly elected chairman of Club England. If found
to be guilty, Dallaglio would be accused of bringing the game into disrepute
and suspended.

The former Wasps captain, who was educated at the leading Roman Catholic
public school, Ampleforth, allegedly told a reporter from the News of the
World that he had been a London drug dealer when he was "18 or 19", making
"big, big money" from dealing in drugs, particularly cocaine.

An RFU source said: "From what we read, Lawrence is at best guilty of a
crass lack of judgment in talking in such terms, which places a huge
question mark about his fitness to lead England. At worst it's a very sorry
mess."

While the union is anxious not to jump to conclusions, the Twickenham
hierarchy is keen to be seen to act decisively. The RFU contacted News
International yesterday in the hope that the News of the World would furnish
its evidence. A senior union official said: "If there is any truth in the
story then Lawrence's position must be untenable."

Dallaglio himself was unavailable for comment. The player was reported as
saying that he took Ecstasy during a party to celebrate the Lions' 2-1
series victory in South Africa in 1997. He is alleged to have said: "We had
a massive party, an all-day party . . . one of the players in the squad came
over to me with three Es and just popped one straight into my mouth. . . We
dropped an E and then a couple of wraps of coke."

The 17-stone forward, whose clean-cut image made him the perfect role model
to lead English rugby a year after the unsavoury end to Will Carling's
reign, is also alleged to have admitted smoking marijuana and talking
knowledgeably about Ecstasy, LSD and ways of using cocaine. Dallaglio, who
lives with Alice Corbett, 26, and their two young daughters in West London,
is also said to have admitted to a four-day orgy with prostitutes in
Amsterdam, and to having been unfaithful to his partner.

The drug-dealing allegations correspond to the time when Dallaglio, the son
of an Italian father and Anglo-Irish mother, was trying to come to terms
with the death of his 19-year-old sister Francesca.

The News of the World said that its investigators contacted Dallaglio posing
as executives from a company interested in a sponsorship deal. During a
meeting in an hotel room, he was asked if he had any knowledge of the drugs
scene, the newspaper said. "Without further prompting, he willingly revealed
all," the report said. The
allegations are in stark contrast to anti-drug lectures Dallaglio has given
at sports clubs and schools.