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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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    Comments on RugbyPass

    J
    JW 13 minutes ago
    Andy Goode: Aussie comments didn't cover them in glory

    Yes I was happy with the refs ruling of arrival (and that the tackled player wasn’t obligated to release the ball immediately) but if you see the wide angle you can note how Morgan dives to get there in time.


    I don’t mind your (or the refs) view, but what Morgan said is accurate. Both Mils and Beaver agreed on the breakdown, and you will also get the same view from Aotearoa Rugby Pod guys for a pretty unanimous NZ view.

    Sometimes when both players are low its a rugby collision and this is one of those times.

    Not recently. In the SR finals and AB v Arg series weve seen players clearly bent 90 at the waist still be penalised, only when the attacker does something the ref sees immediate mitigation and rules a rugby incident. Tizzano didn’t offer that he was always in the position Morgan aimed to collect him in.


    Happy to not throw the rule book at these situations but the precent is that they are in these situations.

    many tries out wide the player is allowed to be tackled while diving

    They are diving for the line, not to avoid being tackled.

    “In principle, in a try scoring situation, if the action is deemed to be a dive forward for a try, then it should be permitted. If a player is deemed to have left the ground to avoid a tackle; or to jump, or hurdle a potential tackler, then this is dangerous play and should be sanctioned accordingly.”

    You can read Nicks article for an updated discourse on this though.

    30 Go to comments
    J
    JW 51 minutes ago
    New Zealanders may not understand, but in France Test rugby is the 'B movie'

    But he was wrong, he had to take back what he said. But maybe this only happened because he came out and was honest with his initial plans?


    He’s simply in a position where he should be far more professional.


    I don’t really follow much media, especially SM, but again, I’ve not seen anyone complaining. Plenty of ridicule and pointing out things like it being disrespectful to the game, but as far as the English language goes, that’s not complaining. Nick Bishop for instance hasn’t been complaining, he’s simply saying Galthie made a bad decision for France’s prospects (which when the common reply is ‘thats how it is’).


    Complaining would be views expressing that the FFR should have put the tour back a week so that all T14 finalists could attend. Complaining would be saying they’ve been robbed of seeing the worlds best stars. Complaining would be saying players can simply take extra weeks off from T14. I’ve only seen advice and suggestions that these are things France need to look-at-for-the-future.


    Basically I tried to communicate with French fans because they don’t understand what’s being communicated. ALL reactions I have seen shared here by French supports have all seemed way over the top compared what I’ve seen expressed about this tour.

    the players are expected to play in too many matches, for too many minutes, and need more rest and recovery time.

    This is the message I have been sharing. So something needs to happen, whether thats France pull out of more Internationals or rest players from more domestic games, who knows, but I also don’t think what they have now is working. It’s obviously much better than 3-4 years ago, but they appear to want to work even harder at it like you say. Personally I’ve only seen LNR be reasonable, I hear much less of their other internationals being denied/influenced not to play, so I imagine that they will give even further (as I can’t really see France pulling out the other international windows as well).

    147 Go to comments
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