Sir Clive Woodward insists that “playing in the style” of Bristol would ‘fix’ England’s issues following the Bears’ stunning first half of the Premiership season.
While Bristol were humbled by Sale Sharks in their last domestic clash after they were kept scoreless for the first time since 2016 in a 38-0 defeat, the West Country outfit have played some sparkling rugby during the 2024/25 campaign.
They currently reside in second position in the Premiership table and Woodward praised the mastermind behind the Bears’ game plan, believing that Pat Lam would get England’s attacking shape up to speed.
Poor Autumn Nations Series
Although Steve Borthwick’s men have been more expansive in 2024, their attack has yet to truly fire, as evidenced by a disappointing Autumn Nations Series which saw them defeated by Australia, New Zealand and the Springboks.
“On the field, England ended 2024 with three autumn defeats from four and playing a style which hardly got fans out of their seats. There will have to be significant improvement in 2025 and that must start with the Six Nations,” Woodward wrote in his Daily Mail column.
“Can you imagine an England XV playing in the style coached by the brilliant Pat Lam? It would fix most of the problems in English rugby at a stroke of a pen!
“Bristol are playing rugby from the gods this season under Lam. Their centre Benhard Janse van Rensburg becomes eligible for England in 2026 and looking ahead, I’d like to see him in a white No 12 shirt with Tommy Freeman in midfield outside him and Alex Mitchell and Marcus Smith as the half backs.
“England’s attack was poor in the autumn. For England to find their next level, something has to happen and fast.”
Woodward’s hope of seeing an evolution in England’s style was part of the 10 things he would like to see in 2025.
Another of the World Cup-winning head coach’s points centred on the RFU’s “ridiculous” bonuses, which saw the bigwigs pocket large amounts of money despite the governing body making a loss of almost £40m.
‘Utter disgrace’
“The reason the eye-watering bonuses for RFU bigwigs was so controversial was because it came at a time when the organisation was announcing a loss of £ 37 million and making 40 employees redundant,” Woodward added.
“Most of those who lost their jobs worked at the grassroots level. It is an utter disgrace the RFU has fired most of them.
“I cannot believe any members of the board or the directors who readily accepted ridiculous bonus for non-performance can look themselves in the mirror. Rugby can’t thrive without people in youth development officer roles. The RFU must bring them back.
“I’ve got a background in teaching, so understand the need to bring rugby to children from a young age. You have to make it fun. I would have two development officers per county, one male and one female. The RFU should have at least 100 development officers.
“They will say they can’t afford it, but we’ve just had the £100m deal from Allianz for the stadium naming rights deal to Twickenham, so they absolutely can. Bring them back and grow the game.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/sir-clive-woodward-claims-premiership-coach-who-plays-rugby-from-the-gods-would-solve-englands-problems-at-a-stroke-of-a-pen
