BBC SPORT | Rugby Union | England rugby squad in profile Printable version England rugby squad in profile In an unprecedented move, every member of England's Rugby World Cup-winning side, plus coaches Clive Woodward, Dave Alred, Phil Larder and Andy Robinson have been recognised in the New Year Honours list. A-Z Stuart Abbott (5 caps) The Wasps centre could surely not have dreamed of this honour, a little more than four months after his England debut. The 25-year-old has already made an impact with two tries for the national team, and looks set to be a fixture for some time to come. Dave Alred (England's kicking coach) Famously told Jonny Wilkinson to "Forget the posts - let's aim for something else. Imagine there's a woman sitting in that seat, 20 rows behind." The rest, as they say, is history. Neil Back (66 caps) Veteran flanker Back may be approaching his 35th birthday, but his appetite for the game shows no signs of diminishing. The Leicester star played in six of England's seven World Cup games, and was a crucial member of the back row.

Iain Balshaw (19 caps) The pacy Bath back saw his World Cup chances limited, although he did make it on to the field in injury-time in the final. The 24-year-old is likely to get plenty of opportunities to add to his tally of nine Test tries. Kyran Bracken (51 caps) Ultimately lost out to Matt Dawson in the race for the scrum-half position, but Bracken still made some telling contributions. Perhaps most crucially, he forced a turnover just before half-time in the crucial pool game with South Africa, preventing a Springbok score which would have given them a half-time lead. Mike Catt (61 caps) The 32-year-old Bath centre surprised many when he was called up into Clive Woodward's squad, but did more than enough to justify his inclusion. In particular, his display as a second-half substitute in the quarter-final against Wales was vital in securing an England victory, and he played a part in both the semi-final and final. Ben Cohen (35 caps) The Northampton player did not produce his very best form in Australia - but is regarded as one of the best wings in the international game.

Cohen's strength makes him a formidable opponent, and with his World Cup winners' medal he emulated his uncle George, who was part of the England football side which won the World Cup in 1966. Martin Corry (29 caps) The Leicester number eight always faced an uphill battle in attempting to oust Lawrence Dallaglio from the team. But after leaving the England camp during the tournament to be present at the birth of his daughter, he returned to play in the ruthless demolition of Uruguay. Lawrence Dallaglio (65 caps) The ex-skipper lost the England captaincy in 1999 after boasting about his rock'n'roll lifestyle to an undercover reporter. But his MBE marks the end of a remarkable turnaround in which he re-established himself as a world-class number eight, producing a great performance in the final. Matt Dawson (57 caps) Cemented his position as England's first-choice scrum-half during the World Cup, at the expense of Kyran Bracken. His break at the end of extra time in the final, which helped set up Jonny Wilkinson for his drop goal winner, is already part of the most famous bit of footage in English rugby history.

Andy Gomarsall (15 caps) The scrum-half was behind Kyran Bracken and Matt Dawson in the running for a first-team spot, but he did play in the demolition of Uruguay. The Gloucester man also appeared in the recent match against the New Zealand Barbarians and, at 29, will hope for more chances in the future. Paul Grayson (29 caps) The Northampton fly-half would have won a whole host of extra caps for England, were it not for a certain J Wilkinson. But he has never complained, and his 17-point haul in the recent match against the New Zealand Barbarians proved England have a more than adequate replacement for when Wilkinson is injured. Will Greenwood (47 caps) The Harlequins centre is one of the most potent finishers in the game, with 30 international tries to his name. Returned home during the World Cup due to problems with his wife's pregnancy but returned for England's hour of glory. Danny Grewcock (43 caps) The Bath captain had a frustrating World Cup, seeing his campaign ended by a broken hand in the thrashing of Uruguay.

That was after breaking a toe in the warm-up for the opener against Georgia, but he will be hopeful of resuming his second-row partnership with Martin Johnson in the Six Nations. Richard Hill (63 caps) The Saracens flanker's nickname 'Silent Assassin' sums up his role in the England team perfectly. Hill rarely dazzles in the manner of, say, Jason Robinson, but the simple fact is that England play better when he is in the team. Martin Johnson (84 caps) Regarded by many as the finest leader in the game, Johnson's importance in England's victory is beyond question. His towering, brooding presence always casts a huge shadow over England's opposition. Martin Johnson profile Ben Kay (28 caps) The quiet Liverpudlian is not always the man who catches the eye - but with his tireless driving, he makes a big contribution to the team. His knock-on in the World Cup final with the try-line beckoning was a low point, but Kay did not let the pressure get to him. Phil Larder (England defensive coach) England's powerful defence has been the foundation for their success during the past 12 months, and Larder is the architect.

When he was involved in rugby league, Larder watched England lose one World Cup final to Australia in 1995 - but ensured he did not make that an unwanted double this year. Jason Leonard (113 caps) The seemingly indestructible Harlequins prop broke the world record for Test caps appearing as a replacement during the World Cup semi-final against France. A cult figure for England fans, Leonard already has an MBE for services to rugby, and joins Jonny Wilkinson in being appointed an OBE. Jason Leonard profile Josh Lewsey (18 caps) The former Army officer produces plenty of dynamic runs and is a good finisher who has already notched up 13 international tries - five in the Uruguay match in the World Cup. At home on the wing or at full-back, the 27-year-old Wasps star can expect to add to his caps tally during the next few years. Dan Luger (38 caps) Luger was, infamously, England's '16th man' against Samoa, inadvertently running on to the pitch at the end of the match before being ushered off.

He would not want to be remembered for that and his try-scoring prowess - he already has 24 Test tries to his name - should ensure that the Perpignan winger is known for other reasons. Lewis Moody (24 caps) The tall, athletic Leicester Tiger may not quite be ready to replace Neil Back in the back row, but at just 25 will be hopeful of many opportunities to come. And the openside flanker will always remember the climax of the World Cup final, replacing Richard Hill in the dying moments. Dave Reddin (England fitness coach) Banned for two matches after the infamous Dan Luger blunder against Samoa, but Reddin's impact cannot be underestimated. England's almost legendary fitness levels were the primary reason why they were able to prevail in the tough tests against Samoa and Wales. Mark Regan (28 caps) Leeds hooker Regan started in England's tense victory over Samoa, but has since suffered a foot injury which kept him out of the Twickenham celebration against New Zealand Barbarians. At 31, the former Bristol man is moving towards the later stages of his international career, but will hope to play a significant part in the Six Nations.

Andy Robinson (England coach) The former Bath and England star's meticulous attention to detail was crucial to England's success. His partnership with Clive Woodward proved successful at Bath and for England Under-21s - and reaped great rewards for England. Jason Robinson (28 caps) Possibly the most exciting runner in the game, the former rugby league star is famous for his devastating speed over short distances. And it was his blistering pace which took him over the try line for England's only try of the final. Simon Shaw (23 caps) By Clive Woodward's own admission, the giant Wasps lock was unlucky not to make England's original 30-man World Cup squad - but he still made the trip after Danny Grewcock broke his hand. The 30-year-old ultimately did not feature Down Under, but made a good impression in the recent match against New Zealand Barbarians and could yet play in the Six Nations. Steve Thompson (24 caps) Hooker Thompson is not a man who easily gives way to anyone - and his muscle was vital as England tried to counter the physical threat of Australia. His line-out throwing at the World Cup was erratic, but his all-round game was as solid as anyone in the team.

Mike Tindall (33 caps) The burly Yorkshireman got the nod over Mike Catt in the final and did his job well. The Bath centre is widely respected, and the ankle ligament injury he recently suffered - which will probably keep him out of the Six Nations - is a big blow for England. Phil Vickery (38 caps) The Gloucester prop, with his 50-inch chest, 19-stone bulk and oriental tattoo - which translates as 'I'll fight you to the death' - is an intimidating opponent for anyone. Vickery has already captained England twice and some tip him to take over the job - if and when Martin Johnson steps down. Dorian West (21 caps) Leicester hooker West has the unwanted distinction of being the only person to captain England in defeat during 2003, skippering the second-string XV in their defeat in France in August. He did make amends for that, however, playing as a replacement in the 24-7 semi-final win over France. Julian White (19 caps) The Leicester tighthead played in England's fraught pool match against Samoa, but has subsequently suffered from knee trouble.

Surgery means he will miss the rest of this season, although the prop will hope to bounce back after regaining fitness. Jonny Wilkinson (52 caps) Pretty much every superlative in the dictionary has been applied to England's match-winning fly-half superstar in 2003. Already an MBE, Wilkinson's OBE adds to the World Cup winners' medal and BBC Sports Personality of the Year trophy which he already has in his rapidly-filling trophy cabinet. Trevor Woodman (15 caps) The 27-year-old front-rower has established himself as a regular in Clive Woodward's side. The Cornishman, known as 'Dougie', made a vital contribution to the World Cup winning effort. Clive Woodward (England head coach) A knighthood for Woodward will come as no surprise after he spearheaded England's first major successful World Cup campaign since 1966. Woodward has sometimes been considered eccentric, but coaches are judged on results - and on that basis he cannot be faulted.

Clive Woodward profile Joe Worsley (30 caps) The Wasps number eight blotted his World Cup copybook somewhat with his arrogant applause gesture after being sin-binned in the pool game against Uruguay. But he is an explosive runner who has the class to flourish on the international scene and is the sort of player who can step in for Richard Hill or Lawrence Dallaglio to emphasise England's strength in depth. Justice at last for England's forgotten men of 1966 | Daily Mail Online Justice at last for England's forgotten men of 1966 comments The forgotten boys of '66 finally got their World Cup winners' medals yesterday, 43 years on but still better late than never. Not even the Tube strike could prevent Greavsie and the saints who were England's uncomplaining reserves that glorious summer Saturday long ago from being presented with their gongs.

Better late than never: The non-playing squad members from England's 1966 World Cup Final triumph receive their medals at Downing Street Instead of climbing the steps to the Royal Box to receive their deserved if belated honours - just the way Bobby Moore led Alf Ramsey's Final XI after beating West Germany - they were wheeled into No 10 as propaganda fodder. It was Gordon Brown who pulled off that shameless masterstroke in self-promotion. A Prime Minister so desperate to cling to a last few months in power that he is resorting to celebrity gimmicks seized upon this poignant moment in English football history as a photo-opportunity. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share But the picture on the Downing Street doorstep is one of delight. The faces of the Remembered Ones are beaming with sheer happiness. Justice has been done to them at last and perhaps, since football has moved now into the squad era in which the second-string men are crucial to the team effort, the timing is somewhat appropriate. Had the use of substitutes been introduced before 1966 then more of these yeomen of the English game would have made their contributions on the hallowed turf rather than by keeping themselves in a state of readiness.

Jimmy Greaves is given a rapturous welcome as he walks out on to the Wembley pitch No one was more appreciative of their contribution than their exemplary leader on the pitch. It was skipper Moore who insisted that the win bonus offered the players by the Football Association, a paltry £22,000, should be spread equally at £1,000 for each member of the 22-man squad - whether they played or not. The recipients have changed significantly in appearance from the slim athletes of the mid-60s, but their names and faces are familiar to millions of England fans. The circus did roll on to Wembley but the grand old stagers could not be introduced before the new England kicked off their World Cup qualifying formality against Andorra. After the delay of nearly 43 years, the lads had to wait another 45 minutes to show their medals to the crowd. Their team bus from Westminster to Wembley was held up in the traffic and their parade on the pitch had to be put back to half-time. Those now-venerable, grey haired gentlemen walked out to affectionate applause, with the loudest cheer going to the legendary Jimmy Greaves.

That such a presentation could not have been conducted by Bobby Moore brings home the argument that this ceremony, no matter where it happened, did not take place a moment too soon. Glory: Bobby Moore lifts the World Cup at Wembley Moore died before previous, heel-dragging politicians got around to conferring upon the captain the knighthood that should have been his by right. Sir Alf lived long enough to be called to the Palace but his winning medal had to be conferred posthumously - and therefore collected by George Cohen - yesterday. Fortunately Moore, Ramsey and Alan Ball have not yet been joined in heaven's dressing room by the other recipients. Namely: goalscoring ace Greaves, denied his place in the match after injury; the trio of John Connelly, Terry Paine and Ian Callaghan, who were tried on the England wings in the early group games against Uruguay, Mexico and France but then omitted; non-playing back-up men Ron Springett, Peter Bonetti, Jimmy Armfield, Gerry Byrne, Ron Flowers, Norman Hunter and George Eastham. The modern culture of awarding medals to all players and officials involved with World Cup squads - from the manager to the kit-man - was not prevalent in 1966.

Still, the families of Harold Shepherdson and Les Cocker were invited to Downing Street to pick up medals for Ramsey's late trainers. Critics of FIFA president Sepp Blatter might note that it was he, personally, who approved this retrospective act of recognition and came to London to oversee the operation. Belated it was, but this gesture was too richly deserved to be hijacked by Mr Brown. Still, better late - and probably better exploited - than never. As Sir Alf Ramsey's bit-part players finally received their World Cup winners' medals, RICHARD WEEKES looks at the 'other' Boys of '66... Enlarge 1 JOHN CONNELLY (age 70). Winger with Burnley, Manchester United, Blackburn and Bury. Won 20 England caps. Later owned a fish and chip shop, 'Connelly's Plaice' 2 JIMMY ARMFIELD (age 73). Right back who spent his whole career at Blackpool. Capped 43 times. Managed Bolton and Leeds, who he led to the 1975 European Cup final. A pundit on Radio 5 Live these days. 3 GEORGE EASTHAM (age 72).

Son of a famous football family, a midfielder for Newcastle, Arsenal and Stoke. Fought and won a court battle against the retain-andtransfer system while at Newcastle that helped secure freedom of movement for footballers. Won 23 England caps. Emigrated to South Africa in 1978. 4 IAN CALLAGHAN (age 67). Liverpool born and bred, holds Anfield record with 640 appearances, before winding down at Fort Lauderdale, Swansea and Crewe. 5 GERRY BYRNE (age 70). Another Liverpool oneclub man, the full back earned his place in Anfield folklore for playing 87 minutes of the 1965 Cup final against Leeds with a broken collarbone. First choice Ray Wilson limited him to two England caps. 6 NORMAN HUNTER (age 65). Known as 'Bites Yer Legs' for his tough tackling, Hunter was a key defender in Don Revie's Leeds side. Capped 28 times. Later worked in local radio, and as after-dinner speaker. 7 GEOFF THOMPSON Former FA chairman. 8 JIMMY GREAVES (age 69).

Phenomenal goalscorer for Chelsea, Tottenham and West Ham, Not picked by Ramsey for the 1966 World Cup final, which contributed to his battle with alcoholism. Scored 44 goals in his 57 games for England. Newspaper columnist and TV presenter alongside Liverpool forward Ian St John in Saint and Greavsie. 9 TERRY PAINE (age 70). Winger who played a club-record 713 league matches for Southampton, scoring 160 goals. Fell victim to Ramsey's 'wingless wonders' system. Later moved to South Africa, and helped secure them the 2010 World Cup. 10 RON SPRINGETT (age 73). Made his name as a goalkeeper with Sheffield Wednesday, winning 33 England caps before Gordon Banks made the position his own. 11 RON FLOWERS (age 74). Oldest member of 1966 squad, played as a central defender for Stan Cullis's Wolves side. His sports shop, Ron Flowers Sports, still trades in central Wolverhampton. 12 GEORGE COHEN (age 69).

Right back in 1966, Cohen yesterday received a winner's medal on behalf of England manager, the late Sir Alf Ramsey, who died in 1999. Uncle to England's rugby union World Cup winner Ben Cohen, George auctioned his own winner's medal - Fulham bought it. 13 PETER BONETTI (age 67). Chelsea goalkeeper whose seven-cap England career is largely remembered for just one match. Bonetti replaced Gordon Banks, who had food poisoning, for England's 1970 World Cup quarter-final against West Germany in Mexico, and he took some of the blame for allowing a 2-0 lead to become a 3-2 defeat. 14 MARGARET SHEPHERDSON. Widow of Harold Shepherdson, Ramsey's long-term assistant. 'Shep' died in 1995. 15 LINDA SPRAGGON. Daughter of Harold Shepherdson. 16 LEE COCKER. Grandson of Les Cocker, the England and Leeds trainer, who died in 1979. 17 DAVID COCKER. Son of Les Cocker.

England's 2003 World Cup: The Aftermath England's 2003 World Cup: The Aftermath 2015: A Year in Books England’s 2003 World Cup – Part Six: The Aftermath For the rest of 2003 all was well in the garden of English rugby – the red rose was in stunning bloom. Ben Cohen had made a special history of his own in following his uncle, George, who had played right-back in the England football team’s historic victory over West Germany in 1966, in becoming a World Cup winner. The victory was nevertheless tinged with poignancy, as Cohen knew how much his father would have wished to have been there to see his son’s greatest triumph. Cohen was not alone in experiencing those feelings. It was perhaps Johnson who summed up best what the victory meant to the players, many of whom had experienced tragedy of one sort or the other over the previous few years. ‘I can’t remember what I was thinking as I picked it up,’ he said of raising the World Cup after the medal presentation. ‘Pride in the boys, pride in my country, relief that we’d finally done it.

Most of all, I wished my mum had been there to see it; she would have loved it.’ The team flew home on a plane renamed Sweet Chariot by British Airways. While the players mingled with fans on board and showed off their winners’ medals and the Webb Ellis Cup, Mike Tindall attempted to break Aussie cricketer David Boon’s record of drinking fifty-two beers on the journey back, a feat that had stood unbeaten since 1983. Some accounts say Tindall managed it, others say he passed out a long way shy. They landed at Heathrow Terminal Three at 5 o’clock on a cold, wet winter’s morning – and were greeted by the astonishing sight of more than 10,000 fans who had made an early-morning pilgrimage to welcome their heroes home. In the following days the players took part in an open-top bus parade through the streets of London. The RFU estimated that some 20,000 spectators might turn up to watch the team show off the World Cup; more than 750,000 people came out to party. Weeks of celebrations followed. They met the Queen at Buckingham Palace and the Prime Minister at Downing Street.

Woodward was named UK Coach of the Year at the Sports Coach UK awards, the team was named Team of the Year at the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year awards and Jonny Wilkinson picked up the main gong, before Woodward and four members of England’s coaching staff – Andy Robinson, Phil Larder, Dave Alred and Dave Reddin – were inducted into the UK Sport Hall of Fame. Finally, every player and the senior coaches were appointed MBEs, Johnson a CBE, Wilkinson, Robinson and Leonard OBEs, and Woodward was knighted. But perhaps the greatest legacy was that all over the country, thousands of children were standing over rugby balls in a half-crouch, hands held out in front of them, mimicking the golden boy Wilkinson as they readied themselves to kick for glory. The rugby landscape was now changed for ever – tight shirts became the norm, as did expanded playing squads, bloated back-room staff, military off-field planning, the utilisation of critical non-essentials, specialist coaches, and freakish fitness and strength levels. This latter point was to become an issue in later years as the size and power of the modern professional player gave rise to greater risk of serious injury.

After the brutal 2009 Lions Test series against South Africa, veteran Lions doctor James Robson voiced his concerns for the modern rugby player. ‘I hope, at some point, that welfare will become a bigger part of player management,’ he said. ‘There’s a lot of talk and rhetoric but, for the players’ sake, I hope more action is taken. We’re reaching a level where players have gotten too big for their skill levels. They’ve become too muscle-bound and too bulky… These have been the most physical three Test matches I’ve been involved in.’ England had set the pattern and they knew that they would now have an even bigger target on their back than ever before. Other teams would focus on matching and then overtaking them. In 2004 New Zealand developed their own version of Prozone called Verusco Analysis – and the rest of the top nations would shortly follow suit. By 2013 it had become regular practice for all professional clubs and international teams to wear heart monitors at training, GPS chips in their shirts (even on match days) and to have their every movement on a training field or in a match filmed and pored over by video analysts.

Woodward, the pacesetter, the mastermind, had started a revolution and it had gone global. * But all things in life are transient. In The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, the anthropologist Sir James George Frazer examines the ancient tradition of the sacred king in a multitude of cultures around the world. The king rises in the spring, an all-powerful deity able to control the elements and, crucially, the growth of crops. But when the crops fail he is sacrificed, to be reincarnated once again in the spring – and so the cycle of life continues. Nowhere is the symbol of the sacred king more obviously present in modern Western society than in the world of sport. Football is undoubtedly the dominion of sacred kings where the firing and hiring of club and international managers dominates newspaper and TV news headlines throughout the year – every year; but Woodward was soon to experience the phenomenon in rugby union. From 2001 until the end of 2003 he was flawless, untouchable; and then the crops began to fail. In January 2004 Martin Johnson announced his retirement from Test rugby.

‘When I look back now,’ said Johnson in 2006, ‘I think, you lucky, lucky bastard. I don’t think I ever played in a team that lost more games than it won, and that’s from the age of 11 to 33. And look at the guys I played with. People like Graham Rowntree, Darren Garforth and Neil Back were there almost all the time. The World Cup was great, but the best thing was the guys you were with. ‘I find the bad memories fading, leaving the good. I appreciated what we had at the time but I appreciate it more now. I couldn’t stand the moaners, the people who said it was hard. We were playing sport. We’d train for a few hours, then we’d sit in a hotel. Some things in life are hard.

That wasn’t.’ Over the course of the next few months he was followed into the international twilight by Jason Leonard, Neil Back, Kyran Bracken, Dorian West and Lawrence Dallaglio (although Dallaglio would later reverse his position and return to play for England, and both he and Back were selected for the 2005 Lions tour, where Back became the oldest player to wear the Lions’ red in a Test match). Injury woes struck many more. Jonny Wilkinson underwent the first of many operations that would plague his career, and Iain Balshaw, Mike Catt, Matt Dawson, Lewis Moody, Mike Tindall, Phil Vickery and Julian White all suffered injuries that kept them out of the game for extended periods. For those who played in the World Cup and remained fit, there was a noticeable tail-off in their performances the following season – so much so that, despite depleted resources, Will Greenwood, Ben Kay and Jason Robinson were given the summer off to rest and recuperate in the hope that their form would return. In a simple analysis, this was always going to happen.

The team had been built to win the 2003 World Cup and the target had always been for that team to peak at the tournament. Woodward, Dave Reddin and all the other coaches achieved exactly what they set out to do – and Woodward now had four years to do it again. There should have been no surprise that, with the team breaking up after the tournament, a lean period would follow before the rolling success started up again. But sport is fickle and the bigger picture is often easily lost. The World Cup was won because England had a squad of pure quality, that had grown together over a number of years – years that had been filled with morale-boosting victories and ambition-galvanizing losses. The players had played together over dozens of Test matches, they had learnt how to cope with pressure and they had learnt how to win, no matter who or what they faced. That had been facilitated by meticulous attention to detail, by sparing no expense, and by going to every length possible to give the players an edge over their competitors.

So Woodward knew that if England were to achieve a feat never managed before and successfully defend the World Cup, then they would need to do that all over again – but with an even greater attention to detail, with even more effort and with increased financial investment. Woodward needed more money, more time with the players, more support. If he could have that then he knew that he could create a dynasty. But from the moment the team returned to the UK, it was clear that no one else in the RFU hierarchy was focusing on the future like Woodward and his coaching team were. After the 1999 World Cup exit, Woodward had been hauled before the RFU to review what had gone wrong and how he planned to improve things. After their 2003 triumph, it seemed that to many in the RFU the journey was complete. When you reach the top, where else is there to go? For Woodward, it was to return to base camp and then look to scale the heights again – only this time faster, better, stronger. There was no formal tournament review, but Woodward did his own.

He had been given a new four-year contract in the summer of 2003 that would take him through to the World Cup in France in 2007; so he laid out a four-year plan, detailed in the extreme. ‘I came back from the World Cup and within days I was back in the office getting ready to plan for the next cycle,’ said Woodward. ‘I wanted to put in place a blueprint for where we needed to go from here. ‘I presented all of my ideas to the board but they just didn’t understand the necessity or the urgency with which they needed to be made. The problem was that the board members, outside of Baron, had no idea how we had won the World Cup. They thought this success would just continue. ‘There was a belief that we had won simply because we had great players, and yes, that was the number one reason. But it also took a lot more than that – after all, all of our competitors had great players as well.

It was a very frustrating time and I couldn’t help but feel that even though we had got it right for so long and everyone had been brilliant, Baron was brilliant, and the team were given everything we needed leading up to the World Cup, we still only won the World Cup by a drop-goal in the last seconds of extra time. We now needed to do more and as England it is even tougher because everyone wants to knock your block off. Although England winning the World Cup proved very popular in England, I knew it would prompt a huge response from our rivals and that every other rugby playing nation would be figuring out how to take their teams to the next level to beat us.’ In the summer of 2004, Woodward appeared on Radio 5 Live’s Sportsweek programme. The presenter, Garry Richardson, asked him whether he would receive the same support from the RFU for the defence of the World Cup in 2007 as he had in the build-up to 2003. ‘I’m convinced that myself and a few people know exactly why we won it,’ said Woodward.

‘The only thing I’m a little cranky about is that there are one or two people in influential positions to make things happen for the England team who possibly, and rightly so, don’t understand why the team won. We’ve got to increase the number of training days, increase the investment, but it’s my job to make sure people understand that. ‘Sometimes you have conversations with people and you walk away shaking your head, as they seem to think we won the World Cup because we had a few good players. Well, we’ve got more than a few, we’ve got world-class players, but they’ll be the first to admit you don’t win World Cups because you’ve got good players, you win them because you prepare properly. ‘I’m making it quite clear that England won because of the investment, and that’s fantastic. Everyone invested hugely in me and the team and that’s why we won, but we can’t just expect that to happen every four years. It has to happen every year, and I’m determined to keep driving that investment through. I’m here to represent the players, and people like Johnson and Dallaglio have created huge role models, and we want people to step into those shoes and win.

To do that, though, we have to understand why we won.’ The RFU’s lack of vision infuriated him and he often felt like he was banging his head against a brick wall. For all his achievements, they still weren’t listening to what he had to say. ‘After the Rugby World Cup win in 2003,’ he wrote in The Sunday Times in 2012, ‘the England management devised plans for what we called a Pressure Dome. I had favourable funding discussions with Tessa Jowell, then secretary of state for media and culture. It was to be a dedicated performance centre for England rugby (all teams) where we could coach players to play under pressure, where we could scientifically monitor individual development programmes and develop coaches and referees – a true centre of excellence, in other words. Those in authority at Twickenham, however, decided to build a hotel instead.’ In an effort to begin building for a new era, he announced in January 2004 that any player not available for the summer tour to New Zealand wouldn’t be selected for the Six Nations. This decision pushed several senior players to call time on their Test careers earlier than they perhaps might have done.

While this certainly signalled a new dawn for the team it also robbed them of one of its most precious commodities – and one that Woodward had been carefully developing for years: experience. It is easy for a new player to come into a team of seasoned campaigners, easy to step into a team of winners when all you have to do is play your natural game. It is so much harder to come into a team and be surrounded by players who are as wide-eyed as you are. When the cauldron of international rugby really begins to boil, when backs are to the wall and the pressure is like a lead weight on your shoulders, where do you look for leadership and guidance through the maelstrom? With that experienced core stripped out and the senior players who were there struggling for form, that was exactly the problem faced by the England players during the seasons directly following the World Cup. But there were other factors too. England played a New Zealand Barbarians side at Twickenham at the end of 2003.

For the RFU, it was to be a showcase celebration match; for Woodward it was a chance to show the world that nothing stood still in sport, that he was intent on continuing the journey; but for the clubs it was yet another intrusion into their already disrupted season. They had lost their stars for the entire summer and the first quarter of the season. Now that they were back, and victorious, their most valuable commodities were even more valuable. They didn’t want their England stars swanning off to play in a meaningless exhibition match when they had serious league games to play and their presence could guarantee a bumper crowd. In the face of yet another club versus country row, an agreement was reached whereby Woodward could select only three players from each club – and, even then, he would often find that his first-choice picks from those clubs were unavailable. ‘I think it’s a wonderful fixture,’ he said of the Barbarians game, ‘provided I can play it with a full-strength side.

It’s hard to get excited about a game with a decimated squad.’ ‘The break-up of the England team post RWC 2003, due to retirements, injuries, player fatigue and loss of form, would have been all more manageable if we actually had more control over the players and worked in the same way as the southern hemisphere teams are run,’ he would later say. ‘England will win if we are allowed to prepare properly and compete on a level playing field, but currently we are not and never have been since the game went professional. That is what makes winning the World Cup even more remarkable.’ His disillusionment was palpable, yet his focus remained intact. His thirst for success had been barely quenched by the World Cup success and he refused to rest on his laurels. Going into 2004, his new mantra was to go ‘Beyond No.1’. He had already made history, he had already reshaped the rugby landscape, but he wanted to make it permanent.

With Johnson’s retirement, Woodward made Dallaglio captain once again for the Six Nations and the No.8 led England to an impressive 50–9 win over Italy in Rome and a 35–13 win over Scotland in Edinburgh. But Woodward’s time with the players had been stripped right back to the minimum demanded by the IRB rules for international windows, and the sponsors and other corporate interests were muscling their way into the players’ time, even in Test weeks. In the build-up to England’s third game, against Ireland at Twickenham, the team managed only a paltry two training sessions. And the outside interference finally took its toll as England not only lost 19–13 to an inspired Irish side, but surrendered their unbeaten run at home, which had stood at an incredible twenty-two consecutive wins. They recovered to beat Wales 31–21 at Twickenham but then travelled to Paris, where they lost 24–21, handing France the Grand Slam and relinquishing their position as the No.1-ranked team in the world. Beyond No.1 this was not. The summer tour to New Zealand and Australia sunk this new England side still further.

Owing to injury, retirements and fatigue, Woodward was able to take only twelve players who had been in his World Cup squad. They were humiliated 36–3 and 36–12 by the All Blacks and 51–15 by the Wallabies. It was the Tour of Hell all over again. When they returned home Woodward was greeted with the news that the RFU and the clubs had come to a new arrangement for player release throughout the season. An injury to an Elite Player Squad member would allow for his replacement in the programme, but form would not. So if a player was selected for the EPS at the start of the season, but went on to have a stinker for his club, there was no removing him while he remained fit and healthy. It was deeply restrictive – but the worst part was the access England would have to those EPS players. While accounting for the fact that the 2002–2003 season featured a World Cup, Woodward had still had his players for twelve weeks. Under the new EPS deal, he would have them for sixteen days. ‘I realised when I came back that the clubs felt they had done their stuff and that now it was their turn,’ said Woodward.

‘I realised, when I put in a World Cup report with some serious recommendations that were completely ignored, that people were listening to me less than they had before the tournament. I found that very strange and disturbing… I understand that the players are the property of the clubs, but if we had them under our control, then think what we could do. We could manage them properly as a squad. We could manage their fitness and we could manage things like their welfare, their retirements, even their testimonials. But we have no control over our elite athletes.’ * By the late summer of 2004, Woodward was world-weary. The mid-table position that England had achieved in the Six Nations, the brutal summer tour and the ongoing battle with the clubs and the RFU were taking their toll. There was too much opposition, too much infighting, too many individuals and organisations sucking the life out of English rugby. The World Cup honeymoon was well and truly over. On 2 September 2004, he announced his resignation as England’s head coach and was succeeded by Andy Robinson. It was the end of an era.

‘It wasn’t a snap decision, it was something I had considered for some time and probably settled on whilst on tour in New Zealand and Australia. I did not believe the England Team was being made the priority which I found very hard to understand because it drives the rest of the game in England. ‘It all revolved around the feeling that we couldn’t continue in the same way and I didn’t feel I had the support of the board for my new ideas – which I didn’t. And I couldn’t continue in that environment. I regret the way I left – the press conference was not my finest hour. It was a sad day because being the England head coach is the best job in the world, and I had been able to work with truly remarkable individuals and together achieve something very special. But I just felt my position had become untenable.’ In the days that followed his resignation he publicly vented his frustrations with the RFU and the battle that he had fought throughout his seven-year reign at the head of England rugby. ‘Control of the players is everything and you can’t control them through directors of rugby,’ he said. ‘It’s like trying to run a business without a workforce.

You cannot take any shortcuts… These are young men who are not at their best, and to be an elite performer you have to control the athlete all the time. The England head coach has to have more control of his players. We sat around the negotiating table with people who, with respect, have no idea about elite performance. When your job and career is involved in winning, you look at what is going on and you can’t accept it. I haven’t accepted it and it has come to this. You end up with a compromise agreement and you don’t win World Cups by compromising. If you want to win the World Cup, and get behind this England team, you have to have something very special. You can’t take shortcuts or compromises if you are trying to be the best in the world and win by an inch… ‘It was fantastic to win the World Cup but it was clear to me from the moment that plane landed [back in the UK] I felt totally out of control. My mindset was we had a clear plan of how we were being successful, and that has been watered down. I went into the same meetings with the same faces and heard the same things.

I wanted more and we have ended up with less… We won the World Cup by inches. You cannot compromise. We won the World Cup because we had an outstanding set of players. We prepared properly. But agreements have taken place between the RFU and clubs that on paper look great. They’re not in reality.’ * In February 2004, Woodward had been selected to lead the 2005 Lions tour to New Zealand. He was the candidate that had stood head and shoulders above all others and his resignation from the RFU seemed to suggest that he had done the Lions a favour as he could now concentrate 100 per cent on the challenge of touring New Zealand. And this is where we encounter one of the great elements that makes sport so special, so intriguing, so wonderfully varied. For even within a game like rugby union, which is highly structured and where the elite players are often of a similar standard and mindset and, in the home nations in particular, capable of playing in a certain uniform style, Woodward looked at previous Lions tours (including his own experiences) and was convinced that the blueprint he had drawn up for England would work for the Lions. But in sport no blueprint is ever directly transferable.

There are too many nuances, too many exceptional circumstances with regards to the physical and mental states of the players, too many individual character traits that must be considered before any kind of structure is put in place. The management of a Lions tour, by the very nature of its variety, the paucity of preparation time and the fickleness of any player’s form, has to be fluid in its approach. General styles and tactics can be laid out but they cannot be draconian. The Lions is a melting pot of four rugby nations and the way that one country approaches things cannot be foisted on the three others – not if the tour is to be a success. And so it proved in 2005. Woodward tried to make the Lions an extension of England in the way he approached the squad size, match preparation, accommodation, leisure time and team selection. And it was a disaster. As one leading English player said in the aftermath of the tour, you cannot take a system and a culture and an environment that had been developed over a number of years with England and cram it into seven weeks with the Lions. It just doesn’t work. ‘I’m big on building teams and I got it wrong with the Lions,’ said Woodward.

‘I said, “This is what I did with England and I know it works” – but you can’t apply that to a scratch team in six weeks. It is a tough, tough place to tour and the injuries just wrecked us. People talk about the size of the squad being an issue, having central bases being an issue, the splitting of the team being an issue, having Alistair Campbell there being an issue, but in all honesty, it’s bullshit. If you prepare properly – and we did, we had absolutely the best coaches and medical team that were available – then it comes down to fifteen versus fifteen on the pitch and they were just better than us. We got thumped.’ On the face of it, a Lions tour is a near impossible challenge for a coach.

Gather the best available players from four countries who go for each other’s throats on an annual basis in the Six Nations, occasionally in World Cups and regularly throughout each season for their clubs, patch them together as best you can at the end of an arduous season, spend ten days (at most) in a training camp introducing them to one another, trying to dissolve the ingrained national barriers and hostilities, give them a brand new playing style, defensive system and set-piece codes, then fly them to the furthest reaches of the earth for a brutal six-week tour that culminates in a three-Test series against one of the best sides in the world, who have had months and sometimes years of preparation for your visit. It is for all these reasons and myriad more that since the Second World War there have been only five victorious British & Irish Lions tour parties in eighteen attempts – 1971, 1974, 1989, 1997 and 2013.

While it must be remembered that the Lions faced an All Blacks side considered by many to be one of the greatest of all time, and that their challenge was severely hampered by savage injury, there is no escaping the awful humiliation that they suffered in the Test series, losing 3–0 with barely a shot fired in anger. ‘Leading the Lions is an incredible honour but in no way an easy job,’ wrote Woodward in 2013. ‘I have listened to many people’s opinion about the Lions tour I led in 2005, especially concerning my selection. It is always a controversial subject. All I can say is that I did everything I believed was right and in the interests of the team. You can analyse it however you wish. We were up against one of the finest All Blacks sides I’ve ever seen and we lost to a superior team after we were depleted by injuries to some key players, including Brian O’Driscoll and Lawrence Dallaglio.’ With Woodward no longer in the driving seat at Twickenham and the wreckage of the Lions tour being picked over by every rugby pundit in the world, it seemed as if the Woodward Way would be consigned to history.

Never mind that it had brought England several years of unprecedented success and delivered the World Cup, something that they have not managed to accomplish since; no, as time passed it seemed to many that Woodward was just lucky – a crank who was fortunate enough to have a team of outstanding players who did the business for him. ‘Obviously, we all put in the work, lots of hard work to do it,’ said Jason Leonard of the long run of success that led to the World Cup triumph. ‘But there’s no point pretending that all that set-up just fell naturally into place, because it didn’t. It needed someone in there who knew what he was up to and who could have the arguments and stand his ground in order to get it. Clive took the long-term view and put things together so that if we did things right, applied ourselves and concentrated on what we were doing and where we were going, we could become world champions. He did his job, the team did theirs and as a unit we were good enough to do it.’ Woodward’s rugby legacy will, unfortunately, always be tarnished by the Lions tour.

He made an astonishing, highly criticised and ultimately unsuccessful move into football coaching with Southampton in 2005 and from there he went into a role with the British Olympic Association, but he has never been able to lay the ghosts of that Lions tour to rest with a successful rugby comeback – despite repeated attempts to claim the role of performance director at the RFU. His work with the BOA, however, saw the phoenix rise from the ashes. On 6 September 2006 he was made director of elite performance for the BOA before acting as deputy chef de mission at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where he reviewed the practices at the Games in preparation for London 2012. He took his England rugby blueprint, adapted it with a host of necessary tweaks and applied it to Team GB. Critical non-essentials became watchwords all around the country as Woodward brought his obsessive attention to detail to Team GB’s preparations. He pushed hard for the utilisation of specialist coaches, encouraged and facilitated cross-sport cooperation and the sharing of ideas, and successfully managed to inspire 541 athletes across twenty-six sports to buy into the One Team philosophy, which they demonstrated with aplomb at London 2012.

And he even brought his old muckers Dave Reddin, Dave Alred and Sherylle Calder along for the ride, each of whom had a significant impact on what would turn out to be a glorious summer for British sport, with Reddin in particular proving a star recruit as he built unquestionably the finest medical and training facilities in the Olympic Village. And even though his tenure with the BOA would come to something of an acrimonious end in 2013, there is no doubt that the achievements of Team GB’s athletes at London 2012 were due in no small part to Sir Clive Woodward. If ever there was to be further vindication of his methods and practices this was certainly it. * In July 2009 England won the rights to host the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Home advantage, which had failed to push them over the finishing line in 1991, might just give England the edge to re-enter the pantheon twelve years after Jonny Wilkinson’s drop-kick to glory in Sydney.

After a fairly miserable campaign both on and off the field at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand under the management of Martin Johnson, there was a coaching and player clear-out at the RFU and Stuart Lancaster was brought in as a temporary head coach before securing the job outright in March 2012. Lancaster’s new broom swept England to second place in both the 2012 and 2013 Six Nations and saw his team earn a notable Test series victory over Argentina in the summer of 2013, although the most impressive performance of his tenure came when England dismantled the world champion All Blacks at Twickenham 38–21 in December 2012. The target for Lancaster and his squad is to repeat the triumphs of the class of 2003. Many of Woodward’s ways have been swept out since his resignation, but some still remain: Pennyhill Park, specialist coaches, an environment of no excuses. Lancaster is diligent, down-to-earth and a source of steady reassurance for his players. He is not a visionary or revolutionary in the mould of Woodward, but he has ambitions to build a team that can take on the world.

Whether he is able to achieve this remains to be seen. While the ghosts of Woodward and the 2003 team still stalk every movement of their successors and the world awaits the flowering of another golden period for the red rose, it is important that the achievements of the Woodward years are seen as a benchmark to aspire to rather than a millstone around the incumbent’s neck. For now the triumphs of those years remain isolated in their splendour, but eyes must ever be on the present and the future – just as Woodward’s always were. Read more: White Gold: England’s Journey to Rugby World Cup Glory by Peter Burns, published by Arena Sport.

‘A superb read’ – Stephen Jones, The Sunday Times ‘A fascinating analysis of one of British sport’s greatest triumphs’ – Tom English, BBC Sport ‘Marvellous … you won’t find a better read on the inner workings of Sir Clive Woodward’s 2003 World Cup winning side … Peter Burns has an astonishing eye for detail’ – Daily Mail White Gold is a study of how and why England, the biggest and wealthiest rugby country on the planet, never dominated the game it invented on a global scale until Clive Woodward took charge from 1997 to 2004. Ten years on from the greatest triumph in English rugby history, Peter Burns traces the key influences that shaped Woodward's attitude to playing and coaching, inspiring how he introduced business practices to the sporting arena and created an elite culture for his England players. By leaving no stone unturned in his preparation, demanding a no-excuses mindset in his team and accepting nothing but the very best from players, backroom staff and the RFU, Woodward drove England to the pinnacle of the rugby world.

With in-depth profiles of each of the key players in the team, the management and the coaching set-up, exclusive new interview material and a style that recalls great sporting stories such as Invictus, Moneyball, The Damned United and The Grudge, White Gold analyses the 2003 World Cup campaign like never before, revealing fascinating new insights into the extraordinary journey that Woodward and his team enjoyed as they changed the rugby landscape forever. You are reading an extract from White Gold: England's Journey to Rugby World Cup Glory by Peter Burns.

Question: Which member of England's 2003 Rugby World Cup winning team has an uncle in the 1966 England Soccer World Cup winning team?
Answer: Ben Cohen