Twickenham will be England's ace card but being tournament hosts can also be a distraction, insists Sir Clive Woodward 

• Sir Clive Woodward says England's stars will be under immense pressure
• Woodward has declined Stuart Lancaster's invitation to address players
• He believes England squad should not change their pre-match schedule
• Woodward has tipped New Zealand to face Pool A winners in final
• England are in Pool A along with Australia, Fiji, Uruguay and Wales
• Click HERE for more stories on the 2015 Rugby World Cup 

By Martin Samuel - Sport for the Daily Mail

Published: 16:47 EST, 16 September 2015 | Updated: 03:37 EST, 17 September 2015

England’s World Cup squad have been watching inspirational videos at their Surrey base this week. There has been no recorded message of encouragement from Sir Clive Woodward, though. Not sought, not offered. Ad hoc inspirational speeches likewise. Even if Woodward was invited by England coach Stuart Lancaster he has no intention of being a guest at Pennyhill Park over the next month or so.

With former England greats such as Bob Willis and Sir Ian Botham addressing the cricketers during the Ashes, and Roy Hodgson picking the brains of contemporaries like cycling’s Sir Dave Brailsford, it is very much the fashion to seek ideas, motivation and stimulation from outside.

Woodward, the only England coach to win the World Cup — in Australia 12 years ago — looks vaguely unimpressed. He is not one for gimmicks, not now.

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Sir Clive Woodward has suggested England may struggle with demands of playing at home tournament

Woodward has decided to reject Stuart Lancaster's pleas for him to address the current crop of England stars

World Cup-winning coach Woodward has held private talks with Lancaster but has not spoken to the squad

‘I haven’t done it before,’ he says, ‘so why would I do it during the tournament? I’ve met Stuart a couple of times, we’ve had dinner and talked. I’m happy doing that, privately, but I don’t want to get involved at the camp. He’s invited me many times but I’ve always declined. If he was sitting here now, my advice would be: no distractions and don’t do anything different.

‘If I haven’t been there in the last four years, why now? Keep it exactly as it is. You won’t win a game of rugby because Clive Woodward, or anyone else, turns up. Entrust it to your guys, your coaches. A lot of people flew into Sydney in 2003 and I remember saying we’d see them all after the World Cup. Thanks for coming but leave us alone.

‘If the players notice all these new people around, they will find it strange. They pick up on stuff like that, any little change to the routine.’

Writing in his autobiography, former Arsenal and England captain Tony Adams, said England manager Glenn Hoddle developed a habit of whistling during the 1998 World Cup in France. ‘Not the sign of a relaxed man,’ Adams concluded.

Woodward laughs. ‘Yes, I get that,’ he says. ‘If Glenn didn’t whistle and then, suddenly, he did, it’s those details players spot straight away. I was never much of a whistler. Can’t see the point.’

Some view Woodward as the earliest adopter of marginal gains, the phenomenon that has taken British cycling to the top of the world, with his focus on the incidentals and his deployment of specialists, such as a peripheral vision coach.

Yet, above all, Woodward was an expert at maintaining focus when the world beyond did its best to offer diversion. His take on the 2003 triumph and, later, his involvement with Team GB at the London Olympics in 2012 has given him a crucial insight into what lies ahead for England.

‘The key for me is do what you normally do,’ he explains. ‘Same routine, nothing different. Of course, there is a temptation to change and a coach, in particular, will feel the need to be doing something, but now is not the time for anything new. If what you always do is give people a day to go home and see their families after matches, keep doing that. Stay normal. Stay out of the way.

Tony Adams revealed in his book that Glenn Hoddle started whistling ahead of the 1998 World Cup

Current England boss Roy Hodgson picked the brains of Sir Dave Brailsford ahead of the World Cup in Brazil

‘The temptation is to get too smart on selection and tactics, when the bottom line is that if you have the lineout, scrum and goal-kicking right, you’ve got a chance in any game. That’s the stuff that starts to unravel if you complicate it.

‘The deeper you go into the tournament, the more people want to get involved, to have input. I saw that even in Sydney, so it will be 10 times bigger at home.

‘During the games, you’ve got to cut all that out, be totally clear in your aims. It’s not about marks out of 10 for style, about being flash or giving something original a go. Get your substitutions right, know your plan. I see all these subs coming on now — to win the World Cup final in extra-time in 2003 we only used three out of seven substitutes, because we didn’t need them.

‘I wasn’t going to put Kyran Bracken on for Matt Dawson at scrum-half for the sake of it. Dawson was fine. People will be screaming in your ear to get fresh legs on. Doesn’t matter. You’ve got to be totally and utterly focused.

Woodward has urged George Ford, Jonathan Joseph and Co to not change their pre-match preparations

Three of England's Pool A matches will be held at Twickenham Stadium (pictured above on Tuesday)

‘Of course there is home advantage — but there is home disadvantage, too. I just feel there is more to go wrong at home. Parents, family, friends, sponsors, agents, the media — and social media, too, now. It is all magnified. You take your mobile phone out and there are a hundred messages which you feel you need to answer.

‘For the Olympics we made videos for the athletes, Michael Johnson talking about Atlanta, Ian Thorpe about Sydney — things you would never think of. Your mum and dad go to take their seat in the stadium, except it’s not where it usually is because everything has changed for the event. That could completely throw a person.

‘You walk out and you’re looking up to wave to your family, but you can’t see them and you don’t know why they aren’t there; or they’re texting you because the tickets have changed and they’re right up the top of the stand in the wrong section.

‘The potential for distractions at home are huge. Your agent wants to talk. Every waiter at the hotel wants a chat, every person cleaning the room wants to say good luck, you can’t get away from it. Take social media. If you are used to using it, if you are happy around it, then carry on; if you aren’t, don’t take it on, because you might get wound up or do something stupid.

‘And one person can sink the ship. One guy out there can lose focus, end up in the sin bin for 10 minutes, and that might be the game gone. If you’re not quite there, rugby does bring upsets.’

Woodward felt he did not need to use all of his substitutes in England's World Cup final win against Australia

He mentions 2007 when, having scored 309 points in four group games, New Zealand went to Cardiff in the quarter-finals and promptly lost 20-18 to France. So how does he see England faring? Here’s the good news. According to Woodward, England win Pool A and go all the way to the final where they meet New Zealand.

He rates the All-Blacks as tournament favourites, with the qualification that the only team capable of beating them is England, at Twickenham. It is an unapologetic message of optimism.

‘I think England are going to be fine,’ insists Woodward. ‘Whoever wins that group will reach the final because they’ll avoid New Zealand, which is huge. I seriously think we’ve got a huge chance.

‘We have a good record at Twickenham and based on recent form I’d say it would be an upset if Fiji, Wales or Australia got a result there.

‘I’m not looking forward to Fiji too much. We’ll win but it won’t be easy. We’ve just got to get through it. I think Stuart will be more excited about Wales and Australia. Australia always beat Wales. They’ll hold no fears for them, as Australia won’t for England. So the big game is the Welsh game and, at Twickenham, considering we beat them at Cardiff last time, it would be a huge shock if we lost.

Woodward has tipped New Zealand (including the pictured Sonny Bill Williams) to make it to the final 

‘Then, if we win the group, we’ll be in great shape. There will be real momentum. The whole country will go nuts. Look, New Zealand are still red-hot favourites. I’d say this will be the best-prepared All Blacks team ever to come here. They didn’t pick Cory Jane and Israel Dagg, who have about 50 caps each, and went with Nehe Milner-Skudder and Waisake Naholo who have three caps between them. That shows you their depth, a real good mix.

‘Yet the one team that can beat them is England at home. We did it two years ago and that will be in their heads. I can never see England losing at Twickenham, if I’m honest.’

And there it is. The Woodward who the Kiwis, the Australians, the French and Welsh loved to hate. The arrogant Englishman. At his best, in 2003, he drove them mad and they don’t forget it.

Only last weekend the great All Black lock and a retired veteran of 77 Tests, Ali Williams, warmed up for the World Cup by discussing his loathing of all things English. It was the usual guff. ‘Everyone hates them…their grand past…like to be reminded of their great empire…lack nobility in their victories…Twickenham is hostile, vindictive…if England win this World Cup it is a dark day.’

Leaving aside the fact that if he thinks Twickenham gets a bit lively he should try a home defeat at Millwall, it is a familiar refrain.

The 59-year-old former coach believes England could face tournament favourites New  Zealand in the final

Woodward got used to the airing of similar grievances during his time as England coach.

Whether barking his responses at the man from L’Equipe, or looking incredulously at a picture of Jonny Wilkinson in the Sydney Morning Herald, beneath the headline, ‘Is That All You’ve Got?’, like no England coach before or since, he learned to play that game. Take his first press conference after arriving on Australian soil in 2003.

‘One of the local journalists said we were joint favourites with New Zealand,’ recalls Woodward. ‘I said, “How are we joint favourites? We’re the No 1 ranked team in the world, we haven’t lost in two years, we’ve won 14 games in a row, we beat New Zealand at home and then away in Wellington three months ago. We’re not joint anything. We’re favourites”. The room went silent.

‘Then this guy told me it was a very arrogant thing to say. Why? I was being honest. I was telling them exactly how it was — but apparently you can’t say those things.

‘I like a coach who says what he feels. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of arrogance in sport, if it means standing up for yourself. I didn’t mean to wind anyone up. The team takes its lead from the character of the coach and I was very clear that I didn’t want to get pushed around. I said it as I saw it.

Woodward spent a brief spell at Southampton after resigning from his role at England after the World Cup

‘I don’t think an English coach had gone head to head with them before. Warren Gatland can be a bit like that. He’s a great coach, he’s done an amazing job with Wales and the British Lions, but you can see every now and then he has gone out to make a headline statement — and there’s nothing wrong with it.

‘I clashed with Eddie Jones of Australia a few times, but I was probably as close to him as any rival. We used to talk, swap emails. I saw it as part of the fun. We don’t do that stuff now. Media training has gone to ridiculous levels in all sports. They’re just stifling people, making them worse in front of the media, not better. The sport needs character and personality.

‘Sure, train people not to say anything stupid, but don’t leave them terrified and always looking to the media advisor. Help them to be interesting, to be themselves. Not to suck up, not to be a yes man, just to have something to say. Media training shouldn’t be about dumbing it all down.’

Are England too nice then, too eager to please, is that it? After all, Lancaster’s XV will open their home World Cup from the away dressing-room against Fiji and wearing the away strip. Would Woodward not have put his foot down over that?

Wales head coach Warren Gatland goes out to make headline statements, according to Woodward

‘No, not at all,’ he counters. ‘It’s England’s World Cup but it is run by World Rugby. I saw that at the Olympics. It was our Games but there home advantage ends. I like that. So we’ve tossed a coin and ended up in the away dressing-room? You’re not going to win or lose because of that. If we had put too many restrictions on the tournament, tried to maximise our advantage unfairly, that would just wind up our opponents.

‘I was out at the Vancouver Olympics when Canada had this slogan about owning the podium. It completely backfired. I was in the athletes’ village and there was real anti-Canadian feeling. Everyone wanted to beat them.

‘It’s a remarkably good dressing-room at Twickenham anyway. Home and away areas, both are fantastic. It’s not Murrayfield, put it like that. Murrayfield’s the worst. It’s the place where you get most hassle.

England will prepare for their match against Fiji in the away dressing-room and will wear their away strip

‘You can never train on the pitch. Then they’ve messed about with its dimensions. And in the away dressing-room, there is a huge pillar right in the middle, which is certainly not holding up the stand, and shuts you off from half the team.

‘If I had to design a dressing-room to screw up the opposition that would be the one. Really disruptive, and then they play the half-time music, blast it out over the speakers — bagpipes and stuff.

‘By the time you’ve made yourself seen and heard, it’s time to go out onto the pitch again. It’s non-stop aggravation.’

He pauses, mindful of giving the old enemy a sniff, even all these years later.

‘I mean, you still win, obviously,’ he says. And smiles. They loved him up in Scotland, too.

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