Paul Lewis: Woodward rhetoric becoming repetitive

Sir Clive Woodward could not resist throwing another barb at the All Blacks. Photo / Getty

Wonder what England rugby coach Stuart Lancaster thinks of Sir Clive Woodward's helpful hint this week he should not let his players be distracted during the World Cup?

Probably about what Kiwis think of Woodward's added little barb that, if the 2011 World Cup final had been "refereed properly, France would have won". That came in the midst of his advice to Lancaster: "Don't let the players be distracted. It could be the media, their family, sponsors, ticket requests, anything."

God bless the English, they need it. It wasn't an accident the term 'Perfidious Albion' was coined centuries ago to describe the duplicity of English international relations and diplomacy. Woodward's comments and hidden agenda underline the point.

He was referring to the long period in the second half of the 2011 World Cup final when the All Blacks clung on in the face of a determined French assault. There was a dearth of penalties, particularly when the French had the All Blacks scrum under pressure. The ref, South African Craig Joubert, was accused of favouring New Zealand.

There are three responses: 1) The French had the chance to win the game with a kickable penalty 15 minutes from the end. 2) Most genuine rugby fans would prefer to see a game won or lost by the players, not by a referee imposing himself on the result. 3) Woodward conveniently overlooks the 2007 World Cup when English referee Wayne Barnes missed a blatant forward pass and then similarly did not award the All Blacks penalties as they pressed France in the second half - provoking a bitter Kiwi reaction to the All Blacks' worst World Cup campaign.

We've come to expect this stuff from Woody, the man who coached England to their one and only World Cup in 2003 - although you suspect Postman Pat could have succeeded then and maybe even Jess, his cat ... The strategy was prosaic to the point of grimness: grinding forward play, kicking for territory, seeking penalties for Jonny Wilkinson. It was about as exciting as a coma but, like most modern English triumphs, has become a victory of legendary proportions, especially in Woody's living room.

The jibe about the 2011 final has an ulterior motive, of course. It is designed to make referees look critically at the All Blacks in the upcoming World Cup - a judicious bit of ref-baiting, prefacing predictable English pokes at the haka, "choking" and Richie McCaw's "cheating".

As for the distractions he warned Lancaster about, well, Woody knows all about them. The 2005 touring Lions team he coached in New Zealand was one of the worst ever to tour here. There was nothing wrong with the talent, it was the way they were coached and managed.

Caught in Woody's 2003 time warp, the Lions were so ordinary that Herald on Sunday rugby writer Gregor Paul was confident enough to predict (correctly) a test series defeat after just one tour match against the Bay of Plenty.

Instead of revising strategy and selection, Woody went for distraction. This, remember, was the tour when Alistair Campbell, former PR aide to Prime Minister Tony Blair and inextricably linked to the Iraq "weapons of mass destruction" debacle, guest-starred as spinmeister. There has probably never been such a rugby tour so steeped in "communications" and which lost its way so badly the coach forgot to coach, ending up in a sticky morass of PR.

Woody and Campbell worked up the Brian O'Driscoll/Tana Umaga/Keven Mealamu controversy - damage limitation aimed at the British media and public to protect Woodward's reputation. The Lions genuinely felt they had a grievance but it was used to upset the All Blacks' build-up to the second test and distract attention from the full exposure of the Lions' shortcomings in the first. It was also a ready-made excuse.

It didn't work. Campbell's over-the-top, heavy-handed PR highlighting the O'Driscoll injury was intended to wind up the Lions but managed to offend the All Blacks and give them added motivation. The British media - Campbell's main target - gave the issue predictably jingoistic treatment but, in the end, many returned to the central question outside O'Driscoll's loss: why was what Woodward had called the "best-prepared Lions team in history" so poor?

The 3-0 series loss was the end of Woodward's coaching career. Campbell's effect on the tour was so disastrous, no other rugby management has adopted such a draconian PR approach. If you are in any doubt how pervasive that was in 2005, consider this: Campbell vetted all columns written by players. The media minders routinely changed the words "All Blacks" into "New Zealanders" - an attempt to reduce the mystique of the All Blacks so they appeared as mere mortals, not rugby giants.

Spin ahead of substance? You bet. Woody's still at it with his comments on the 2011 final. But maybe the All Blacks will win this one, too, leaving him in his rocking chair, sucking his thumb and cuddling a replica of the 2003 World Cup.