Former England winger Ben Cohen has shone praise on an unsung hero from the 2003 Rugby World Cup winning side. The former Northampton and Sale man picked out a relatively overlooked name from Sir Clive Woodward’s team of World Champions.
Despite the heroics of Jonny Wilkinson to topple Australia with his match-winning drop goal, or Martin Johnson’s courageous leadership throughout the tournament, Cohen picked out a definitive workhorse from the class of ’03. Speaking to SafeBettingSites.com, Cohen said;
“When you look at the best ever English team, I was fortunate to play in the greatest ever, the 2003 World Cup final team. There was no individual in that team that was above anyone else, the collective was what it was all about. We beat Australia in their own backyard, we won the Grand Slam as well.
“Within that team, not only did we have world class players in that side, and I was so lucky to have been a part of it, I looked around that team and thought, ‘how the hell am I in this team?’ We were a phenomenal side and you could list how many amazing players we had, but someone who doesn’t get as much praise is Richard Hill.
“We know what someone like Jonny Wilkinson was about; he was dedicated and obsessed with being the best he could possibly be and driving the team forward. But Richard was a name who didn’t get spoken about a lot, and yet I would have him as one of the first names on the team sheet. Now that doesn’t take away from the performances of any of the other players in that squad, but he was consistently phenomenal for his country and his club. He did so much unseen work in that side, it was incredible.
“He is definitely one of the greatest players that I have ever played with at international rugby, for sure. It would be a tiny margin between everyone else because they were phenomenal players but he just went about his work in a quiet way. We are talking 0.1% difference between the players, but he deserves his moment in the limelight for his ability to be so consistent.”
Cohen then continued to discuss the mastermind behind the only England side to date, to bring the Web Ellis trophy home to Twickenham. Sir Clive Woodward has long since been praised for his revolutionary coaching approach, that banded his side together with resiliency, aggression and technical prowess. Cohen gave his thoughts on Sir Clive, who taught the former winger some valuable life lessons.
“Everything he did was designed to make us perfect in every way, it related to lessons we could take away and utilise in real life, it was business-like precision. The fundamentals and the understanding of what we were doing and how we were going to do, winning by design and not by default, these were all honed under Clive.
“We pushed the boundaries of the game, no different to business, I use the infrastructure in business today. I loved the fact that he created an environment and a team that was bigger than him and us. That England team was structured by individuals who were the best at what they do; kicking coaches, throwing coaches, fitness coaches, dieticians, chefs. Even simple things like choosing hotels for us to live in when we travelled.
“We pushed the boundaries and did things differently, take the cross field kick for instance. It is used really widely in the game now as bread and butter rugby, but it was a huge part of our armoury. It was so exciting to be part of that England team when we left our clubs because even World Rugby wasn’t close to the standard of the England team.
“We were always early for meetings, even with Lombardi time, the way we conducted ourselves was all to harness the team. If you were late, you were letting the team down, you just cost us the World Cup. And it’s the right approach. People’s actions and the way you conduct yourself is paramount to success and to our psyche.
“What you saw was a guy who drove that whole idea and that process, but when you took him out it effectively pulled the plug and everything caved in. We saw England after that were not a former shadow of themselves. It has been going backwards for a long time, I saw the best of both worlds, being on top of the world and then a complete loss of direction and understanding.”
Cohen added an anecdote, after running into Sir Clive in a Twickenham superstore at the end of last year. Both England legends were heading to ‘HQ’ to witness the Autumn Internationals, with Cohen sharing the story of an unexpected interaction, some 19 years after lifting the World Cup in Sydney.
“It was the Autumn Internationals last year and I saw Clive Woodward at the Tesco near Twickenham and he looked at me, had to squint to take a look, before doing a double take. Before he could ask if it was me, I said ‘yes Clive, it’s Ben Cohen.’
“We spoke for a while after that and had a little walk around the lake and I texted him shortly after the encounter. I said, ‘I don’t think I’ve ever said this but thank you for letting me be a part of such an amazing squad and such an incredible ride.'”