Sir Clive Woodward slams make-up of RFU panel
Saturday 24 October 2015 12:44, UK
Sir Clive Woodward has criticised the make-up of the RFU panel which will review the performance of the England team at the Rugby World Cup.
Ian Ritchie, the head of the RFU, Sir Ian McGeechan - who was on the original panel that selected Stuart Lancaster to be England coach - former FA chief executive Ian Watmore, former England lock Ben Kay and the professional game board chairman Ian Metcalfe will sit on the panel.
They will look at how the team prepared for the tournament, and its performance. England came third in their pool, losing to Wales and Australia, and became the first hosts of the World Cup to fail to reach the quarter-finals.
Woodward - the only man to coach an England team to World Cup victory, back in 2003 - was a surprise omission from the panel.
He backs the inclusion of Kay, one of his stalwarts in the 2003 team, but says McGeechan has a conflict of interests as he helped appoint Lancaster, and says the remaining three have no experience of international rugby.
He wrote in the Daily Mail: "Much has been written on RFU chief executive Ian Ritchie's selection for the panel to conduct the review. As a stakeholder in the shirt, I was staggered.
"Ritchie has overseen England's worst World Cup ever and over the last four years has got far too close to the team for a man with zero rugby experience or knowledge, culminating in awarding six-year contracts to Lancaster and his coaching team.
"He should not be allowed anywhere near the review, let alone leading it and choosing the panel. There is a total conflict of interest. Three of the five people on the panel have no experience in international rugby. There is no input or representation from the 12 Premiership clubs."
New Zealand continue to set standards on and off the field, and whilst Woodward argues that England should not slavishly copy the All Blacks' methods, he believes they would not be in this position.
"Ask yourself four simple questions: Would New Zealand select a rookie coach without any international experience? Look at Steve Hansen and Sir Graham Henry's CV before giving out the ultimate job," he wrote.
"Would New Zealand offer six-year contracts to a coaching team that after three years had won nothing?
"Would New Zealand run an operation with zero international coaching experience throughout their entire organisation?
"Who would New Zealand have selected to conduct a review of their international team?"
Woodward concluded: "Ritchie's team looks like a comfortable collection of friends coming together for a quiet chat.
"They are not true stakeholders; tough, angry, independent and dead set on making sure this never happens again. The RFU badly need to listen to the expert voices they have been blocking out."
