Sir Clive a charmer with slick sidestep

By JULIE MIDDLETON

This is the closest you're going to get to eyeballing England coach Clive Woodward, the man who whipped up acute envy in thousands of New Zealanders one November night.

For 20 measly minutes, before he dashes into the International Rugby Board conference at Auckland's Heritage Hotel, Woodward grants journalists an audience.

"Can I just say it's Sir Clive, ladies and gentlemen," is the wry comment from the man knighted after England's World Cup win. "No, forget the formality. Clive's great."

Apparently, in his days as an England and Lions centre, Woodward was speedy and elusive on the field.

Hard to pin down off it, too. Little has been published on what makes the man - rather than the coach - tick.

What we do know about Woodward, the son of a Royal Air Force pilot, is that he turned 48 on January 6, is married with children, is a strict boss, and transformed England's perennial underachievement.

And that he can be a colossal grump, recently raising eyebrows when he dismissed David Campese, retired Wallaby wing and professional contrarian, as commanding "little respect".

But today he's in bland mode. He has that patter common to sports types who have been media-trained - reflect the question in the answer (it makes a good sound-bite), waffle on, and fudge it if asked, say, what he thinks of John Mitchell's dumping as All Black coach.

First impressions are that he has a pixie-ish face for a rugby bloke. And he's not comfortable, sitting leaning slightly forward with hands on thighs as if ready for a getaway.

Here's Woodward on being around other coaches - aka the enemy - at the four-yearly, three-day conference: "Normally when you're meeting the other coaches it's a different environment, and it's good to relax and shake hands and have a beer."

On a successor to just-retired England team captain Martin Johnson: "I don't know who the captain's gonna be. I'm just going to wait until I get back ... We'll make the announcement sometime next week or the following week."

On new All Black coach Graham Henry: "I've got a lot of time for Graham. He's a great coach."

On Mitchell's dumping: "It's not my business ... I've got no comment on it. You never like to see any person removed from their job. He's a friend. He did a great job for England [when Mitchell worked there] and I'll never say a bad word against him."

On how life has changed since lifting the World Cup: "Hasn't changed at all. I was very pleased [to be knighted] but it doesn't make any difference to your life ... We're very pleased to have won the World Cup but it's history and this is what we do for a living. I'd be horrified if anyone thought I'd changed."