Rugby: Drug 'honey-trap' turns sour for England captain

By Richard Boock

England rugby captain Lawrence Dallaglio, his career in tatters after allegations that he took and dealt in drugs, was the second victim in as many weeks of a classic tabloid trick known as the "honey-trap."

The 26-year-old loose forward is to meet with angry and bewildered Rugby Football Union officials today after reportedly telling the News of the World that he was a drug-dealer before he took up rugby - and that he took ecstasy and cocaine during the 1997 Lions tour of South Africa.

He will appear before an RFU disciplinary panel comprising England coach Clive Woodward, Club England chairman Fran Cotton, RFU management board chairman Brian Baister and chief executive Francis Barons, and seems almost certain to be replaced as captain by lock Martin Johnson.

Dallaglio's comments were apparently made to, and taped by, a blonde female reporter only a week after Camilla Parker-Bowles' son Tom fell for an almost identical ruse. Tom Parker-Bowles was also reported as saying he took cocaine.

The Wasps flanker actually referred to the Parker-Bowles story before continuing to talk about his own drug exploits.

However, despite the newspaper's claim to have secretly recorded the conversation on audio and video tape, Dallaglio's mother dismissed the allegations as "a complete tissue of lies."

The News of the World had allegedly heard about Dallaglio's involvement in drug-taking two years ago, and launched a "sting" operation six weeks ago to see if it could catch the England captain out.

The story goes that the newspaper posed as a firm putting together a sponsorship deal for a shaving foam company and approached Dallaglio with the lure of a lucrative advertising contract.

To sweeten the deal, the executive in charge of the deal was apparently played by the woman reporter, whose long blonde hair and buxom figure could - the newspaper calculated - weaken Dallaglio's defences.

Reports last night claim at least two meetings took place in a London hotel room, with a colleague of the reporter in an adjoining room to assist with recording and security.

It was further claimed that, helped by copious supplies of alcohol, the reporters made rapid progress, with Dallaglio allegedly offering to snort cocaine off the reporter's body on the very first meeting.

Of the revelations, by far the most damaging were the ones regarding popping ecstasy and snorting cocaine with two team-mates - one of them a household name and fellow England player - following the Lions' series win in South Africa two years ago.

"We got absolutely mullered," he apparently told the reporter. "We had suites in the Intercontinental overlooking Johannesburg. It was a fantastic room, a presidential suite. There's nothing better than having sex, champagne and cocaine."

If he was just bragging, and it seems now that his only defence is to say he made false statements which he never expected to see in public, Dallaglio did, however, seem to display an extensive knowledge of the drugs scene, reportedly talking in detail about how long it takes the various substances to pass through the body.

Among the drugs he allegedly had experience with were cannabis, acid, LSD, ecstasy and cocaine.

Dallaglio, whose sister Francesca was killed in a riverboat tragedy on the Thames 10 years ago, was preparing to meet the four-man RFU panel last night, in tandem with his agent Ashley Woolfe and a legal representative.