No way back for Woodward

LONDON - World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward would appear to have no way back should he want to return to the top of English rugby after the empire he built was dismantled today.

Woodward walked out on England to take up a role with Southampton Football Club in 2004, departing on sour terms with the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and chief executive Francis Baron.

Baron, who announced the new post of director of elite rugby as part of a shake-up of the England structure today, insisted he was on friendly terms with "Sir Clive and his wife" and that nobody had been ruled out.

He then listed a daunting list of qualifications necessary for the man they are prepared to "scour the world" for.

The new supremo would have to have at least five years' experience in a director of rugby role and some international experience.

He must be a strategic planner, an astute senior manager and have enough rugby knowledge to be able to advise head coach Andy Robinson where he is going wrong.

It only needs "some experience of winning the World Cup" to become a virtual replica of Woodward's CV.

Yet even if Woodward could be persuaded to turn his back on soccer, the game he calls his first love without having had the chance to manage a team, it seems inconceivable that he could operate in the new climate of the RFU.

His once-revolutionary ideas, which were eventually taken on board by England's officialdom and helped turn England round on the pitch, are now seen as cumbersome.

He began with small steps, insisting on a new bus to drive players to matches and redecorating the Twickenham changing rooms.

By the time he stood down in 2004, whatever he asked for, he got. England's training base was the five star Pennyhill Park Hotel in Surrey, specialist coaches, video analysts, even a vision coach were brought on board. Woodward even famously, and effectively, took a lawyer with him to the 2003 World Cup.

He continued his "biggest and best" approach when he took 45 players and an astonishing 30 support staff on the British Lions tour of New Zealand last year but saw his stock plummet in the wake of a 0-3 series defeat.

Now, with the RFU desperate to halt the slide that has taken England to sixth in the world rankings and seen back-to-back fourth place finishes in the Six Nations, there is a new approach.

As a result of the wide-ranging review into the poor performances, two of Woodward's key men, defence coach Phil Larder and kicking specialist Dave Alred, have been shown the door, as has performance director Chris Spice.

The coaching structure has been streamlined with limited management staff. Pennyhill Park has gone to be replaced by a "more modest" base while "all non-essential expenditure" is to be eliminated.

"We are going to be lean and mean," said Baron, a phrase that would send shivers down Woodward's spine.

Andy Robinson, his former deputy, remains as head coach, but that is about it from the set-up that Woodward put in place.

Robinson's three new as yet unknown assistants, defence, attack and forwards' coaches will be in place before the new director comes on board, an unusual situation for anyone but something Woodward surely could not countenance.

There is plenty of time for England to turn things round with 16 more tests, starting with two in Australia in June, before the 2007 World Cup.

However, Baron accepted today that they had a mountain to climb if they were to even get past the quarterfinals in France next year.

Though it is just the sort of challenge Woodward would relish, he surely could not stomach taking on Twickenham's officialdom all over again.

- REUTERS