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Clive Woodward was an 'absolutely rubbish' coach says one of his former London Irish players

Clive Wodward in 1999 (Credit: David Rogers /Allsport

He may have gone on to steer England to a Rugby World Cup in 2003, but one former player of his says Clive Woodward wasn’t up to much in his early days as a coach.

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Woodward’s victory at the World Cup in 2003 was followed by a disastrous British and Irish Lions tour in 2005, where the tourists were famously ‘black-washed’ three – nothing in the Test series. He hasn’t coached an elite side since, but has made a name for himself as an outspoken pundit with the Daily Mail as a motivational speaker and sports administrator. He was knighted in 2004.

Woodward coached London Irish between 1994 and 1997, where former Ireland international winger Niall Woods would have been one of his charges. Now an agent, Woods have recalled that while the Englishman was an excellent motivator, he struggled with the technical side of coaching.

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Speaking on Off the Ball, Woods recalled his experiences at the club while Woodward was in charge. “He was absolutely rubbish [as a coach]. Clive was an amazing individual, he is an unbelievable motivator, great talker, but technically as a rugby coach he wouldn’t have been very good at the time.”

Woods, who had been under the tutelage of Eddie O’Sullivan back in Ireland, said Woodward paled in comparison from a technical point of view.

“I had come from Eddie O’Sullivan in Blackrock in the AIL days, who at that stage was way ahead of his time in terms of analysing teams and players.”

Woods, who won eight Ireland caps, also revealed that Woodward would sign off letters with ‘Rugby is come home’.

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“Clive used to send me letters, I was working at my dad’s accountancy firm in 1996, and he’d sign off… ‘rugby is coming home’. The Euros in ’96, we should all remember, was in the UK, and the song that came out was ‘Football is coming home’, so it was after the Five Nations, so it March, April and May.

“There were three or four letters, and he would sign them off with ‘rugby is coming home’.”

Woods admits that Woodward went on to become a good head coach, with the resources of the RFU behind him and a brilliant playing squad.

“The problem he had at London Irish was that he didn’t have a good enough squad. He went to Bath for a while, and then he went to England. Obviously they have quite deep pockets in the RFU, and he is, not necessarily a bully, but he will get his way when he wants it.

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“That allied to him having a really good team in 2003 and their team for that World Cup in ’03 just peaked at the right time.

“When I had him, certainly, he wasn’t very good.”

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J
JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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