Lawrence Dallaglio

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Lawrence Dallaglio
The cover of his autobiography.
Full name	Lorenzo Bruno Nero Dallaglio
Date of birth	1972-08-10
Place of birth	Shepherd's Bush, London
Height	1.93 m
Weight	112 kg
Rugby union career
Position	Flanker or No. 8
Professional clubs
1990-1996 1996-present	Wasps FC London Wasps
correct as of 2006-09-12.
National team(s)		Caps	(points)
1992 1995- 1997,2001,2005	England Under-21 England Lions	1 77 3	(0) (80) (0)
correct as of 2006-09-12.
Other Information
School  attended	King House School, London

Lorenzo "Lawrence" Bruno Nero Dallaglio (born on August 10, 1972 in London) is the former captain of the English national rugby union team. He plays as a flanker or Number 8 for London Wasps, he has never played in another set of club colours, arriving at Sudbury as a teenager. He captained England before being forced to give up the captaincy with Martin Johnson taking over and has been capped in all three positions in the backrow.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Bibliography 4 External links

[edit] Early life

Dallaglio was born in Shepherd's Bush, London, the son of an Italian ice cream salesman. He was educated at King House School in Richmond, Ampleforth College (though he actually attained his A-levels at The Oxford School of Learning) and Kingston University. His mother was Welsh. His sister, Francesca, died in the Marchioness disaster in 1989.

[edit] Career

He won the inaugural World Cup Sevens with England in 1993. He was then a surprise choice for the 1994 England tour to South Africa. Yet the following winter he wasn't guaranteed a place in Wasps' backrow. One season on and he became club captain when Rob Andrew left for Newcastle in October 1995, taking four experienced players with him. He held the club together and 12 months later lead Wasps to the first professional English league title.

He made his debut for England in November 1995 and has gone on to win more than 65 caps for England. He toured South Africa with the 1997 Lions tour.

He was given the England captaincy in the autumn of 1997 by new coach Clive Woodward, taking over from Phil de Glanville. The other candidate for the job, Martin Johnson, had led the Lions tour, but Dallaglio was preferred.

In 1999 he was caught by a honey trap set by the News of the World, who managed to get a confession from him that he was a regular cocaine user, he also boasted of making large sums of money drug dealing in his youth. Although he later denied this, and put it down to alcohol-induced bravado, he lost the England captaincy to Johnson. He continued playing, especially at number eight in the Neil Back - Dallaglio - Richard Hill back row triumvirate.

Dallaglio had a fantastic season in 1999/2000 when he was handed back the club captaincy. Although the side's league form was disappointing, Dallaglio led Wasps on an impressive Heineken Cup run and to a second successive Tetley Bitter Cup victory.

Another impeccable season in 2000/2001 closed with selection for his second Lions Tour but an injury in the last game of the season against Bath, meant he was doubtful for the trip to Australia. The Lions passed him fit but the knee gave way again in a mid-week match, cutting short his tour and forcing the Wasps captain to undergo reconstructive surgery.

Dallaglio was part of the 2003 England grand slam and world cup winning side. He played in every England game during the World Cup and was not replaced once. He regained the captaincy in 2004 after Johnson's retirement from international rugby. Without Johnson the team played poorly, and Dallaglio announced his retirement from international rugby on August 31, 2004. He continued to play for Wasps though.

Despite his international retirement, Dallaglio was called up for his third British and Irish Lions tour in 2005. Back and Hill also received Lions call-ups. Dallaglio was not able to add any more Lions caps, as he fractured his ankle during the Lions' first tour match on June 4. He announced his availability again for England selection at the end of 2005 and was included in the squad for the 2006 Six Nations Championship. He was named on the bench for England's opening match of the tournament versus Wales on Saturday, February 4, at Twickenham. He was a blood replacement for club mate Joe Worsley after 13 minutes and on 64 minutes was a replacement for Martin Corry, touching down with a clinically executed charge from the back of the scrum on 70 minutes. He came on three more times from the bench during the tournament, but not during the 28-24 loss to Ireland, which was the last game of the 2006 championship.

In October 2005, it emerged that prior to his rugby career, Dallaglio had a secret claim to fame. In 1985, as a 13-year-old chorister in Kings House School choir, Dallaglio and 20 other choristers had sung backing vocals on the song "We Don't Need Another Hero" by Tina Turner. This fact emerged when the Musicians' Union realised that the choristers had not been paid royalties on the record and attempted to track them down, 20 years on. In the same choir, Dallaglio had sung at the wedding of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Dallaglio is also a fan of Chelsea FC.

[edit] Bibliography

• Autobiography (2005) ISBN 0-593-05350-8
• Dallaglio on Rugby: Know the Modern Game ISBN 0-340-71839-0

[edit] External links

• Nobok Sports Lawrence Dallaglio page and video
• Wasps page
• RFU page
• Sporting Heroes
• Oxford School of Learning
• Profile and Statistcs (itsrugby.co.uk)
• Article in the Telegraph

Preceded by Phil de Glanville	English national rugby union captain 1997-1999	Succeeded by Martin Johnson
Preceded by Martin Johnson	English national rugby union captain 2004	Succeeded by Jason Robinson