Lawrence Dallaglio: England would not have won the World Cup without Clive Woodward

Former England international Lawrence Dallaglio has told William Hill’s podcast, Up Front with Simon Jordan that Clive Woodward was the driving force behind England’s 2003 Rugby World Cup success. 

Featuring on William Hill’s Up Front with Simon Jordan, a podcast hosted by the former Crystal Palace owner who speaks to sports stars and celebrities and challenges their opinions whilst scrutinising their careers, Dallaglio spoke about his former head coach Woodward, stating that he doesn’t believe his side would have won the Rugby World Cup without him.

“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, 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.”

Woodward made us pioneers and innovators

Speaking further about his former head coach, Dallaglio expanded on how Woodward revolutionised English rugby.

“Clive realised that we needed to be pioneers and innovators within the game,” he said. “What we had been doing was following everything New Zealand and South Africa were doing, but once you’ve 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.

“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.”

Dallaglio added to his praise for Woodward, describing him as a risk taker, citing the signing of Jason Robinson from rugby league as an example.

Dallaglio said: “He took risks as well. The most obvious example is Jason Robinson. He persuaded his Chief Financial Officer that buying Jason Robinson for £1.5 million 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.”

You can watch the full episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqW-U-epKL8.