A former Ireland player has branded World Cup-winning coach Sir Clive Woodward as ‘rubbish’ in a stinging interview.
Prior to taking the England job, he had a spell with London Irish, where he coached ex-Ireland international Niall Woods.
The winger talked up Woodward’s man management and motivational skills, but insisted his actual coaching was ‘rubbish’.
“He was absolutely rubbish [as a coach],” said Woods, who was speaking on Off the Ball, .
“Clive was an amazing individual, he is an unbelievable motivator, great talker, but technically as a rugby coach he wouldn’t have been very good at the time.”
“I had come from Eddie O’Sullivan in Blackrock in the AIL days, who at that stage was way ahead of his time in terms of analysing teams and players.”
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5. Danny Cipriani (England)
“Cipriani is the only English number 10 of the past 20 years who, if I’d been coach and he had been up for selection at the same time as Jonny, could have caused big selection headaches.
“The Sale man’s skill-set is so complete. He poses an attacking threat with ball in hand and has a superb kicking game and world-class distribution. I think Wilkinson would have got the nod over him in the end but the fact I even mention them in the same breath shows how highly I rate Cipriani.”
