Sir Clive Woodward reveals why Andy Farrell’s Ireland are ‘light years ahead’ of Six Nations rivals

Sir Clive Woodward insists that too much time is spent on building for the next Rugby World Cup instead of the here and now.

Following the 2023 global tournament, much talk has centred on the next four-year cycle leading into the 2027 World Cup in Australia.

Head coaches have already started preparing for that competition, but Woodward cannot understand why.

Vindicated

Andy Farrell took some flak for not selecting any uncapped players in his Six Nations squad, but the former England boss believes that the weekend’s results and performances have vindicated his decision.

Ireland were outstanding as they utterly dismantled France 38-17 in Marseille, putting them on course for a second consecutive Grand Slam.

Although there were some youngsters making a name for themselves, including Joe McCarthy and Johnny Sexton’s replacement, Jack Crowley, it was an incredibly experienced group of players.

“What I like about Ireland, and Farrell in particular, is the rhetoric and decision making coming from their camp. Farrell is light years ahead of his rivals,” Woodward wrote in his Daily Mail column.

The 68-year-old believes that other teams, including England, have been “guilty” of focusing too much on the next World Cup and should change tack, or risk being left behind.

“There’s been a lot of talk already in this Championship about teams building for the future, the 2027 World Cup and the next four-year cycle. England are guilty of it as much as anyone,” he wrote.

“Eddie Jones spent far too long talking about the World Cup as an end point only to totally forget about the here and now. The result was he never made it to France last year — not with England anyway.

“It is a mindset that has rooted itself into English rugby and I’m concerned his successor Steve Borthwick is falling into the same trap.”

Of the other countries, Warren Gatland has very much been open about building for the future, hence the young team in this Six Nations campaign, while France often talk about the age-profile of their current side.

However, it is pretty much guaranteed that the squads that feature in this tournament will not be the same ones that head to Australia in 2027.

“Messages about the future and saying that players in the current squad can be around for the next four years are worrying indications to me that the present is being forgotten,” Woodward wrote.

“The players in the England squad won’t be — or definitely shouldn’t be — around for the next four years if they don’t deliver results. In international rugby, the next game is the only thing that matters.”

Stung by quarter-final loss

The 2003 World Cup-winner then added: “And that brings me back to Ireland. They’re not looking at the next World Cup.

“Perhaps that’s because losing in the quarter-finals in France last year, despite being world number one, showed them there are no guarantees in elite sport.

“The mindset of Ireland and Farrell is spot-on. The decision to make Peter O’Mahony captain after the retirement of Johnny Sexton was brilliant and showed Farrell isn’t looking ahead. He could easily have gone for a young captain.

“But Farrell is pragmatic. He wants to win and he wants to win now. Of course he has a brilliant team at his disposal, but the other Six Nations coaches could definitely learn a thing or two from him in terms of the way he is approaching the job.”

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