Sir Clive Woodward will cast a shadow over the Rugby Football Union again tomorrow as England celebrate the 10th anniversary of their World Cup triumph.
Jonny Wilkinson’s extra-time drop goal, which won the final against Australia, should have heralded an era of English domination under Woodward, who seemed destined to be handed the coveted performance director role.
But the man who was knighted in the 2004 New Year’s Honours List resigned as England coach just 10 months after the Sydney triumph.
Woodward had signed a contract to lead England at the 2007 World Cup but rows over the way he wanted to run the elite part of the sport — including clubs releasing players to prepare for Tests and a limit on matches played each season — brought him into conflict with the RFU hierarchy.
The result was his departure and a new career, first in football with Southampton and then with the British Olympic Association and attempts to engineer a return for the prodigal son, never came off. Instead, after Andy Robinson followed him as head coach, the RFU appointed Brian Ashton who was removed to bring the untried Martin Johnson into the role culminating in a disastrous 2011 World Cup campaign in New Zealand. Then Stuart Lancaster took over and he has moved England up to No3 in the rankings.
Nigel Melville has been watching the ups and repeated downs of the England team from across the Atlantic in his role as USA rugby’s chief executive. The former England captain and ex-London Wasps director of rugby is in London this week as USA take on Russia at Allianz Park on Saturday and gave his verdict on the post-Woodward saga.
Melville said: “Momentum dropped off after the 2003 World Cup win and it went quickly from a high to a low and managing the change of players didn’t happen. It became a clumsy transition with Clive going and that had knock-on effects.
“Clive is a polarising character and while that may be a strength it can also be a weakness. It meant when he didn’t come back because the changes he wanted weren’t happening, it was a case of “he’s not coming back” from people who may, in other circumstances, have supported him. That caused trouble off the pitch within the RFU and there was a period of turmoil in terms of the leadership. It became rudderless for a while.
“Now, it looks much calmer and Stuart Lancaster has done a great job in steadying the ship.”
Instead of Woodward being at the helm of that ship, 10 years after he helped put England at No1, he remains a man apart from the RFU.
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