Woodward believes much change now needs to happen if Marler is ever to win his 72nd cap. Writing in his Daily Mail column following the weekend's round four Guinness Six Nations action, the 2003 World Cup-winning coach suggested it was time that England copied a recent All Blacks policy – no d***heads allowed.
"I pride myself on not copying other teams but I loved the little saying which underpins recent great New Zealand sides, namely 'no d***heads'," he wrote.
"It's pretty self-explanatory. You can be a great player and, yes, you can be a character and different but don't go around being a distraction and embarrassment to the team, the shirt and the country. I knew England were in big trouble before the World Cup final when Joe Marler started horsing around at a bizarre press conference with Dan Cole.
"That was embarrassing, disrespectful and said much about the team's mindset. I wouldn't stand for that and, most importantly, nor should the team.
"We saw it again on Saturday with his ridiculous groping at Alun Wyn Jones' genitalia. Marler was trending all night on Twitter and perhaps he thinks that's clever and what life is all about but it will interesting to see how the RFU handle this. I know what I would do.
"I'm a huge admirer of (Ellis) Genge but he needs to be careful as well with his beer-in-hand post-match interviews and dismissal of media critics as sausages. I winced on Saturday when Nick Mullins on commentary referred to him as something of a cult figure.
"Let's be clear: Genge is a very good young player and has a huge opportunity to be a star but he has achieved nothing yet with England — he's not even in the starting XV. Be a cult figure by all means but do it by becoming England's premier loosehead.
"It really is time for the players to take a strong hold on this. I would be looking for Owen Farrell and Itoje to show real leadership now both on and off the pitch and make sure England cut this stuff out."
This article first appeared on RugbyPass.com and is republished with permission.
