'The Woodward Hangover '

by  Ed Budge

It’s September 2004, and English rugby is at its lowest ebb for some considerable time – a captain retired, a coach resigned, and over 100 points leaked in their last 3 test matches. Things could not possibly have got any worse, but now, a season on, have they got any better? Analysis of England’s matches would suggest not. Losing to what was easily Wales’ poorest performance of a sensational championship may have seemed like a blip at the time, but when France somehow managed to take 2 points home from Twickenham without showing up, the rugby-going public were as worried as they were bemused. And after winning enough ball to amass a small cricket score against an Ireland side, whose ageing pack so keenly felt the albatross of the favourites tag around their necks, defeat should have left much of the England set-up anxiously reaching to protect theirs. 

            But it did not. England’s failure to cross the whitewash in 50 minutes of possession was hailed as an “excellent performance” by coach Andy Robinson. After his team dredged out victories against Italy and Scotland, Robinson triumphantly declared that the Red Rose army was, once again, “ready to take on the world.” But victories against nations so far adrift of the pack that they require binoculars were accompanied by displays of little more promise than those on show in the drubbings in the Antipodes. 

            But what right had we, the fans, to demand success with a new captain (or three, anyone?) a new coach and an endless list of injuries and retirements? Such discontinuity would be enough to break any team, right? Wrong! For all the changes in personnel, England still contribute 20 players to this summer’s Lions tour. Sadly, one thing has remained constant – at the very top. The RFU’s decision to appoint Sir Clive Woodward’s right-hand-man as head coach appeared to be the logical step forward for English rugby, but now resembles a decision more akin to giving Igor the run of Castle Dracula. The Woodward years were unquestionably the finest in our history, bringing as they did the World Cup win in 2003. But with any great party, there is a great, big hangover, and while Andy Robinson clings steadfastly to the tactics of his predecessor, England will struggle to move forwards, or even haul themselves off the floor.

             What we must remember was that Woodward was a very special head coach. Stubborn and belligerent, he arrived at his post in 1997 with a vision of how he wanted his England to play, and exactly how he planned to achieve this. But Woodward’s England was as much a product of the players involved as it was one of the coach’s vision. The players and the game-plan meshed perfectly over a number of years. But, Andy Robinson does not have the same players, and yet the game-plan remains the same, and I regret to say that it does not work.

             Woodward’s game was based on multi-phase rugby; recycling the ball time after time, sucking in opposition players to create space or simply pummelling them so hard and so often that they crumbled into submission. And his team was tailor-made for it. Let us look at the back row first: Hill, Back, and Dallaglio, the triumvirate that rolled off the tongue as one in so many a Woodward press conference, were great ruckers, powerful men who could sniff out a ruck hours before it took place. Time and time again, they were the first men there, mercilessly clearing out all who stood in their path, recycling the ball for England. Worsley, Moody and Corry are great players, but their strengths are not at the breakdown: Corry is a fine ball-carrier and imperious at the line-out; Moody is the world’s King of restarts and tears around the rugby field like a man possessed; Worsley is the one man you would ask to make a tackle to save your life. We saw all this in the 6 Nations, what we did not see was quick ball or strong, reliable retention and yet we continued to carry the ball straight into the opposition defences, presumably on Robinson’s instruction. Imagine being Joe Worsley before a game, when his instructions appear to be little more than ‘go out and try to be Richard Hill, please.’

             However, the back row had their work cut out. Not having any stats to hand I will have to guess, but during the 6 Nations I saw no English forward carry the ball as much as Worsley, Moody and Corry. How can they be carrying and clearing out at the same time? They can’t. In Woodward’s time we had ball carriers elsewhere: some of my fondest memories of recent games are of the New Zealand clash at Twickenham in 2002 where the front-row of Woodman, Thompson and Vickery were tearing up the turf like wild men, charging, side-stepping, offloading and generally wreaking havoc in a glorious display of 15-man rugby. Robinson’s front row is not accustomed to this; a man of Graham Rowntree’s age is not expected to be all that dynamic; Julian White is a great scrummager but offers little in the loose; Steve Thompson, sad to say, is a dwindling force on the International stage, particularly in his carrying. With the back row doing most of the ball-carrying, one can hardly expect big, heavy props to attack the breakdown at the speed of light, but it seems that this is just what Andy Robinson expects. 

            It is not just in the pack, either, where Woodward’s plans were carried out to such devastating effect, his typical backline contributed just as much to England’s style. Jonny Wilkinson is not the most talented footballer the game has ever seen, but as a fly-half he was nothing if not patient and supremely pragmatic. Never too hasty or eager to make that decisive break, he would feed his backs for as long as he felt necessary, with complete trust that his back row could provide him with the ball once again. If ever England needed a platform, a target for their forwards whom they could send up the middle until the cows came home, they had Mike Tindall. And then there was Will Greenwood, the perfect man to initiate the killing blow, with an opposition defence struggling to re-organise for the umpteenth time. Greenwood could spot a crack in a defensive line from his living room, and whenever it was time to strike it would invariably be the Harlequins man who would make the half break, draw the last man, or make the killer pass. Woodward’s backs were not quick, not by a long shot, nor were they crisp or precise enough to threaten regularly from first-phase ball, but they were ideal for the game that they played, and played to perfection.

             Robinson’s backs are different. They are quick, and they have a fly-half with a pass like a bullet in Charlie Hodgson, with Olly Barkley’s distribution not too far behind. England’s best play in the 6 Nations came from planned moves from set-pieces, where the ball was put on a plate for the back three, in space, and was finished off with razor-sharp precision. But we only saw this on two or three occasions throughout the tournament. How many times, instead, did we see Charlie Hodgson kick aimlessly for touch (an area where he is certainly no match for Wilkinson) or little Olly Barkley sent on the crash-ball into the midfield? By the end of the tournament I could not shake the words “Half a league, half a league, half a league onwards” from the back of my mind.   

             Sure, England have sorely missed Johnson’s leadership and Wilkinson’s boot, it was never going to be any other way. But it is a reliance on Old England’s game plan which is dragging the current side down. There is a way to get the best out of these players that Andy Robinson has either failed to see or chosen to ignore. Now, there are a great number of reasons why I am not an International coach, but it seems to me that the way to get the best out of the players England have at present is to discard Woodward’s way - focus our attention on developing an all-conquering scrum and line-out and give our backs the space they crave from as few phases as possible, and for God’s sake make them play from deep. Woodward’s era is over.

The fans have realised this, and the sooner Andy Robinson does, the better.

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