Thursday, June 24, 2004
Humble Woodward says 'Well done New Zealand'

England Rugby coach, Clive Woodward has praised the New Zealand All-Blacks for their recent impressive performances which saw the World Champions concede more than 36 points in both games.

In a rare moment of humility, Woodward admitted that his England side had been well beaten by the better side on both occasions.

Just eight months ago the England Rugby Union side returned triumphantly from Australia clutching the William Webb-Ellis trophy on the back of 23 straight wins.

Now, after crashing out of the Six Nations and two drubbings at the hands of the mighty All-Blacks, the previous world’s best have crashed to 4 defeats in 6 games. With the World Cup runners-up, coming next.

“All I can say is well done New Zealand, we were soundly beaten twice by a far superior rugby playing side.” said Woodward at a press conference on arrival in Brisbane, where England play Australia on Saturday.

“They out played us in every department, beat us to the ball on every 50-50 occasion and the individual flare of some of their backs put us to shame. That is why they scored eight tries in two games to our none.”

“Although we have had a number of retirements (two) and a few injuries (three), we are a side that has always relied on strength in depth from a bigger pool of talent on which we can draw than any other side in the world. Loosing a couple of players is no excuse.” he said.

"The England soccer supporters in Portugal were our inspiration."

“Besides,” he added, “New Zealand have had a few injuries themselves, and they managed the changes far more efficiently.”

“During the [first] Test in Dunedin, we were just swept away by a more focussed and aggressive side. So for the second Test we knew we had to raise the physical side of our game.”

"Therefore we went out on to the pitch at Eden Park with the attitude of ‘If we can’t beat them at rugby, we’ll just beat them up’.”

“And we found that we couldn’t beat them at rugby, so we did just try to beat them up.”

“The England soccer supporters in Portugal [for the Euro 2004 finals] were our inspiration.” He concluded.

Asked whether he thought Simon Shaw was lucky to get away without a ban, Woodward replied “Although it didn’t look too bad in slow-motion, the act was a wilfully committed professional foul that would have been dangerous had he connected with the head, as seemed to be his intention. So yes, I think he was lucky.”

Although England conceded 26 points in the second half of the second Test, the All Blacks were not awarded a single penalty. Woodward put this down to an act of sympathy on the part of the referee.

“I saw at least 3 blatant penalty offences for offside at the ruck committed by England players in second half that denied further points to the opposition. Although we were pretty disciplined, we were definitely helped by the Welsh ref who must have felt a little sorry for us being so out-classed.” He said.

England now look forward to trying to salvage something positive from of their so far bleak Southern Hemisphere tour when they take on the Wallabies in a re-run of last year’s World Cup Final at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane this Saturday.

They are sure to get a warmer welcome in Brisbane, with a large English contingent already massing in the City.

“We will revert to playing 10 man rugby once more. We have tried to spin it wide in the last two games against the All Blacks and realised we were rubbish at it. Therefore we are going to play the touchlines and not pass it beyond our number-10. Dan Luger will have to make do with chasing back to get the ball.”

“If the Australian back division get any possession, we’re finished.” he concluded.

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