Sir Clive Woodward takes credit for England’s Six Nations victory over Ireland
Sir Clive Woodward speaking to England head coach Steve Borthwick.
Rugby World Cup-winning head coach Sir Clive Woodward believes that his pre-match advice helped England to emerge victorious over Ireland in the Six Nations.
Steve Borthwick’s men got their campaign back on track with a shock triumph over the defending champions at Twickenham.
England produced their best performance since the 2019 World Cup semi-final to upset the Irishmen 23-22 in the fourth round of the Six Nations.
Their game finally came together for this clash and Woodward felt that his words prior to the encounter had the desired effect.
Fast start
“Ahead of this game I wrote that to have any chance against Ireland, England simply had to play with a breakneck speed that would catch their opposition off guard,” he wrote in his Daily Mail column.
“I honestly believe that Borthwick’s players had read my pre-match column because they were so quickly out of the blocks.
“England’s first quarter showed they are improving. It was much better than we’ve seen in this Six Nations so far. England played well. I did wonder in the first 40 minutes if they had real belief they could win the game. But as the match progressed, that belief grew.”
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England’s performance was in stark contrast to what they produced against Scotland, which was littered with mistakes, especially in attack.
“In the Calcutta Cup defeat by Scotland, England tried to attack but made so many errors and coughed up so much ball that they were never going to win the game,” Woodward wrote.
“But against Ireland, their attack was promising. They played well on the transition, a really good example of that being George Furbank’s try as he raced into the corner.
“England had their chances to take the points and keep the scoreboard going. I called on them to opt for the posts whenever they could.
“But there can be no doubt their decision to go for the corner after Peter O’Mahony’s yellow card paid off with Ben Earl’s try. They proved their critics wrong.”
Building on the win
Woodward hopes that this is not a false dawn and that this win yields “something special” for Borthwick’s outfit.
“As good as England were, you did think it wasn’t going to be enough when Lowe got his second try,
“And I was off my seat screaming when Danny Care kicked the ball away with England on the attack in the final exchanges. It appeared a moment of madness.
“But back England came. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who had a great game, led the charge.
“Smith dropped back in the pocket and the rest is history. Lift-off for England. I really hope this is the start of something special in English rugby.”
