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Woodward: Northern Hemisphere has 'never been in a better position' to end RWC drought
Andy Farrell’s Ireland side captured a Grand Slam Six Nations title with a 29-16 win over England to cap off a significant nine-month period for Irish rugby.
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Ireland have won 10 Tests in a row since their loss to the All Blacks in the first Test at Eden Park last July.
Rebounding in Dunedin to level the series before claiming a historic 2-1 series win in Wellington, Ireland went on to defeat South Africa, Fiji and Australia in November before sweeping all of their Six Nations opponents, including defending champions France in this year’s tournament.
France captured a Grand Slam themselves 12 months ago and had their own undefeated calendar year in 2022, rising to world’s best in the eyes of many. Having been pipped by Ireland in round two, France have flexed their own muscles against England and Wales to show how strong they still are.
The two European teams are now well and truly established as the top two teams in the world rankings, establishing a new world order ahead of this year’s World Cup.
On the threat of the Southern Hemisphere teams at this year’s event in France, former England coach Clive Woodward said that now is the time for the North to shed the dreaded tag that has accompanied them for the last 20 years.
“Oh they will be coming fast,” Woodward said of the Southern Hemisphere to ITV, “but if you look at the table it doesn’t lie.”
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“France and Ireland are the two top teams. I’d love England to win a World Cup obviously, but if it’s not England, I want France or Ireland to win.
“You want a Northern Hemisphere team to win. We’ve got to get over this tag from 20 years ago, and I think we’ve got the armoury.
“England are in a great position to win, they’ve got a great draw, their next game is Argentina, a big World Cup pool game.
“If they win that, they can go quite simply go to the semi-finals. They’ve got the team.
“France and Ireland have got the teams to win the World Cup there is no doubt.”
Woodward said that wouldn’t sit well with the old powers, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, who have won eight World Cups between them.
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“As we sit here, I promise you, in Pretoria, Auckland, they’re sharpening their studs. They won’t like to be hearing all this about Ireland, France and England,” he said.
“They’ll be ready for us in South Africa and Australia, Eddie Jones is down there.
“Southern Hemisphere will be sharpening their studs ready to go. It’s all on.
“But I think the Northern Hemisphere has never been in a better position to do something special this year.”
France has made the World Cup final on three occasions but Ireland’s struggles are well documented, failing to qualify past the quarter-final stage at every tournament they have competed in.
Former Irish great Brian O’Driscoll said that public expectations for the Six Nations champions are rising fast with desires of winning the event.
The legendary No 13 said that the rugby world at large is aware of how good Ireland is and he has received messages from all around the globe telling him so.
“Does it rachet up the pressure now all the more? Certainly in this country we think we can go on and achieve something,” O’Driscoll told ITV.
“Not just doing something we’ve never done before in getting to that semi-final but getting to a final, god forbid, can we say it out loud? Winning a World Cup.
“They are the number one team in the world. When you start getting text messages and notes from down in the Southern Hemisphere, in New Zealand and Australia, about how good this Irish team is.
“They’ve grabbed the attention of everyone in the world. It’s not just a Northern Hemisphere victory for them.
“They’ve really embraced this number one tag and they’re enjoying it. All these wins along the way will add to the confidence for all the circumstances that will arise over a seven week period at the World Cup.
“Hopefully it will hold them in good stead to deal with those situations.”
Comments on RugbyPass
late hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
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