I was in London when rugby made the front pages of all the national newspapers for the first time since the Rugby World Cup final on November 22, 2003.

Sir Clive Woodward - pictured above in his playing days - and the Rugby Football Union (not the English Rugby Football Union, of course, simply The Rugby Football Union) were at war over the amount of time Woodward would have the players released from their clubs for international duty. 

It ended with Woodward resigning and a media frenzy that he would soon replace the conservative, defensive and ultimately ineffective English Soccer coach, Sven Goran Eriksson. 

Nobody does media frenzy quite as dramatically as the English tabloids. 
  

Of course, Woodward finally was able to communicate to the press sharks that (a) he had always been interested in soccer, (b) he felt that the managerial skills he had were adaptable to any sport, (c) he might help Southhampton FC in a strategic role at some stage, (d) he would take the necessary Soccer coaching courses to gain accreditation and (e) he was totally committed to coaching the British and Irish Lions to New Zealand in 2005.

Woodward is a polarizing kind of guy, and always has been. 

An independent thinker, he bucked the trend when he took on the English job by reversing the prevailing mindset where business had a fascination with sport and declaring that his mindset was totally different. 

He felt sport should have a huge fascination with business and he was determined to run the England Rugby team like a business. 

In his new book, Winning! he describes his approach in detail, which will be anathema to many New Zealanders who have happily jumped on the bandwagon that the corporatization of rugby and the All Blacks has been a major factor in our inability to win World Cups. 
  

Winning Rugby World Cups is a very difficult undertaking nowadays given the financial resources of major nations like England, France, and Australia. It needs the kind of approach that successful, sustainable businesses need. 

There is no point in harking back to the good old amateur days when the All Blacks mystique was worth nine points a game. The playing field has changed and there is a lot to be learned from Woodward's hard-headed, pragmatic approach. 

Of course, it also helps if you have players like Johnson, Back, Wilkinson, Leonard, Robinson and Greenwood! Woodward has his detractors and Will Carling has consistently been in this camp. He believes that some of the business tactics have gone too far and England has lost some passion. 

I understand one of the reasons behind Lawrence Dallaglio's retirement from international rugby is that he got tired of the constant meetings, strategy sessions and endless discussions with the battery of assistant coaches. 

There is also a point of view that says some team spirit was lost in the move to players having their own rooms rather than the All Black tradition of sharing. 
  

Nonetheless, Woodward's results are second to none. He turned an underachieving England team into a team of winners who won 14 straight against Southern Hemisphere teams. He brought ten rules to the English players, which seem to be pretty basic and in some cases not too far away from basic team beliefs in the All Blacks. (Did Mitch help here?)

1 - Dress Must be presentable at all times. 

2 - Language Swearing in public is never allowed. 

3 - Selection Anyone left out must congratulate his rival. 

4 - Chain of Command Team representatives to liaise with management. 

5 - Punctuality Turn up at least ten minutes early for meetings. 

6 - Mobile Phones Must never be seen or heard in Team Hotel. 

7 - Public Relations No articles must criticize other players. 

8 - Duty Everyone on call 365 days a year. 

9 - Be Present Always make a contribution, never just turn up. 

10 - Have Fun The point of work is to enjoy it.
  

He then developed seven steps, or business principles, to the management of England's effort. He learned these from interacting with corporate sponsors and in his own business life, and implemented these steps throughout his time with England.

Step 1 - Set the vision, inspire the team. The vision was Winning! And seven elements of winning were outlined and followed. I work with a small team at Inspiros Ltd in helping companies and sporting organizations reach Peak Performance. We wrote a book about it a few years back, which is still selling well in the UK and the US. We talked a lot in the book about Inspirational Dreams, Challenges, Focus and Spirit, all of which play a role in Woodward's process of winning. Seems totally on target to me.

Step 2 - "Design the experience that supports your goal." This entailed shaking up HQ and the Corinthian spirit and moving England into the modern professional arena. An arena which had the players working harder than they ever thought possible, removing all distractions and creating a no excuses environment which was just as important to the management team, partners and sponsors as it was to the players.

Step 3 - Entailed the building of an infrastructure of effective systems in the core parts of the business. Woodward focused on leadership, coaching, fitness/ nutrition, psychology, medical/ recovery, analysis/ IT and management. He developed world class performance standards in each area believing you get what you measure.

Step 4 - Lay the foundation for a strong elite team culture. At the core of this was the this is England Teamship rules outlined above. At Saatchi & Saatchi we call this One Team One Dream. The England squad focused around "this is how we do it here."
  

The final three planks of the process were: think, plan and do.

In all three areas the management team focused on observing the current behaviours, strengthening the processes and innovating new ideas as appropriate.

At the heart of turning England from perennial losers into World Cup winners was a definition of winning, which Woodward articulated as follows:

"You know you're winning when you've achieved:

- More points on the scoreboard. 

- A performance of world-class standards in the core area of your game. 

- A team that really clicks in the heat of the match. 

- An experience off the pitch that is enjoyable and inspires the whole organization. 

- Real competition against the team you know can beat you. 

- 75,000 people on their feet going nuts - performance your supporters wildly applaud. 

- Knowing you can do it on a consistent basis".
                

This sustainability of performance drives Woodward and will drive him to reach the pinnacle of his career by coaching the British and Irish Lions to winning here in 2005.

Woodward will spend the next 12 months single-mindedly preparing for this challenge. I believe his resignation from the English job will help him enormously as it will make him more acceptable to Ireland, Wales and Scotland and provide him with a unique opportunity to mould together a true team. 

It will be a gargantuan tour in every sense of the word. They will bring 70 people; 44 players and 26 support staff. There will be two sets of coaches, including Ian McGeechan, Andy Robinson, and Eddie O'Sullivan. The best of the best in the British Isles. 
  

Two coaches will handle the Test team and two coaches will handle the dirt trackers. The players will move through each side based on performance and specific game plans.

One thing is certain. This team will be prepared like no other Lions team has ever been. They will be fresh for every Test and they will be superbly organized. 

Woodward is spending a week with JK (John Kirwan) and the Italians prior to the All Black game in November and has been invited by Mike Ruddock of Wales to do the same for the game in Cardiff.

And I think we'll still smash 'em! They will be fit, prepared, organized, and focused. But when it comes down to it, a game of rugby is won and lost on the field by inspirational players with ice in the brain and fire in the belly. 
  

Our four wise men have everything it takes to put together a great All Black team and a great All Black performance. We've got the right build up, plenty of preparation time, scorching talent in the backs and Richie McCaw! 

We have home advantage and we need the media and the crowds to get behind us from this day forth. Let's create a positive environment where we can experiment and express ourselves so that organization and preparation just will not be enough to counter preparation, organization, passion and inspiration.

Interestingly, Woodward's primary coaching inspiration is one of my heroes, a forgotten man of All Black rugby nowadays, Earle Kirton. 

It was Earle who first picked Woodward to play for the Harlequins at first-five and encouraged him in the knowledge that your first bit of ball might be your best bit of ball so you better make the most of it. He encouraged Woodward to be creative on the ball and to use everyone on the pitch effectively. 

An approach that our All Black side should be able to play better than anyone in the world.

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