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Dallaglio credits Clive Woodward with 'reinventing the game'
By Liam Heagney
Ex-England back-rower Lawrence Dallaglio has hailed his former boss, Clive Woodward, for being the disruptor who revolutionised the England game, leading to Rugby World Cup glory 20 years ago in Australia.
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Appearing in William Hill’s podcast, Up Front with Simon Jordan, Dallaglio cast his mind back to 2003 when England conquered the rugby world for the first time, an achievement he reckons would not have been possible without the involvement of Woodward as head coach.
“There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that we would not have won the World Cup in 2003 without Clive Woodward,” said Dallaglio.
“He revolutionised rugby beyond all belief. He is one of those rare people who played at the highest level, for teams like Leicester, England, and the British and Irish Lions, but those weren’t really winning teams in those eras.
“He did some things which were incredible when you look back on them now. He is what I would call a disruptor – when the Home Nations were obsessed with winning the Five Nations.
"We're just hitting the sweet spot…"
"The closest to a football atmosphere…"
– Ollie Chessum on living the dream at Rugby World Cup after an ankle discolation in March threatened his participation with England. #RWC2023 #EnglandRugby #ENGvJPN pic.twitter.com/gkgha3QsuP
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 14, 2023
“He would say that’s great and it is a wonderful achievement, but to win World Cups you have to be obsessed with beating the best in the world. If you focus on your petty battles within the Celtic nations, that won’t work.
“He changed the mindset from just being focused on winning the Five Nations to asking us what we wanted to be. None of us were household names and he wanted all of us to be famous in a few years’ time. He changed our mindset completely.
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“Clive realised that we needed to be pioneers and innovators within the game,” Dallaglio continued. “What we had been doing was following everything New Zealand and South Africa were doing, but once you have followed it fully, they’d be two steps ahead again.
“There have been nine Rugby World Cups, eight of which have been won by New Zealand, South Africa and Australia, and there is a reason for that.
“He reinvented the game and went to America to see that they had separate defensive and offensive coaches and brought all these specialisms to the sport.
“Then the others started to follow what we were doing; everyone was wearing tight fitting shirts and England were the first to do that.
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“The first thing he did when he arrived on the job was say, ‘New Zealand are the best team in the world, where do they stay when they play here?’ and we said they stayed at Pennyhill Park Hotel, and he said, ‘not anymore they don’t’, and we kicked them out. It was just a little message to let them know we were after them.”
Adding that Woodward was a risk-taker, Dallaglio singled out the coach’s signing of Jason Robinson from rugby league. “He took risks as well. The most obvious example is Jason Robinson.
“He persuaded his chief financial officer that buying Jason Robinson for £1.5million was a good idea. It turned out to be an outstanding idea because he is one of the most talented players ever, but it was a huge risk because he had never played rugby union.”
- Click here to watch the full Lawrence Dallaglio episode on Up Front with Simon Jordan
Wonder if CW called in a favor. It’s been a while since anyone credible said something nice about him.
Clive Woodward did a great job in 2003, but his main innovation was delegating way more responsibilities than earlier head coaches.
That's how he managed to achieve success despite not knowing anything about rugby.
You are a real card. 😀
England had already delegated responsiblities within the team under Geoff Cook.
SCW achieved his post by being the 'innovative' coach who promulgated playing flat in attack - an idea he freely admitted he took from his days in Sydney. And honestly, it does not take much to see Manly took that idea from ARL. To that, Woodward added attention to detail in all aspects.
Unfortunately, while the need for assistants in all areas was an innovation, SCW took this to new levels with the 2005 Lions tour and it backfired. As the 57 Varieties of Heinz and he had already parted ways by then, there was no way back via the national side. You may argue that is good thing - I would say England has largely struggled ever since.
The 2003 RWC final was the closest we have seen to a coin flip win. So however brilliant SCW was, you'd have to believe that Eddie Jones was his equal. You might even conclude that the coach with the smaller player pool did the better coaching job.
If you wipe out history, then you are correct. If, however, you have a memory, there is the inconvenient fact that McQueen coached Australia to a RWC victory away from home in 1999 (when SCW;s team came up short in the QFs against 5 DGs de Beer).
It was therefore a reasonable expectation that Australia, riding high from their previous RWC triumph, could do well with home advantage 4 years later, But it did not happen. SCW had improved as a coach and produced the match winners, while Australia had a new coach...Eddie.
Woodward is an interesting case and it’s difficult to know where he ranks in the pantheon of coaches given the diabolical ending with the Lions. His star burned out very quickly after 2003.
The RFU has a lot to answer for- they are the gift that keeps on giving to the Southern Hemisphere, never more so than their proverbial generosity shown more recently towards E Jones, Esq.
The 2005 Lions tour was not good, I agree, but SCW had no chance to redeem himself at national llevel, since the 57 Varieties had already seen to that.
😁 😆 🤣