Sir Clive Woodward has revealed he was in the running for the France job after 2015 World Cup.
However, the whole experience left him feeling disrespected after he had been shortlisted to succeed Philippe Saint-Andre.
In an extensive interview with Midi Olympique, Woodward explained: “They came to me at the end of my presentation. They told me that I was their best candidate by far, but that the post was already filled… the call for applications was obviously a big joke, a big mess. I looked at them, and asked, ‘But why did I come?’
Clive Woodward : “La France doit jouer comme une équipe française, pas comme le Japon” https://t.co/uRVVo097ki pic.twitter.com/CWeCCKRTbS
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“I had long prepared my presentation. I arrived in a room in front of the jury. There was a pack of people… Serge Blanco was there, Jo Maso too. And a whole bunch of people I did not know, around president Pierre Camou.
“I unfolded the presentation of my project as I had planned, everything went well. In the end, Pierre Camou simply came to me and said, ‘Clive, unanimously your presentation is the best of all. And by far. But you will not have the job. We have already recruited Guy Noves’.
“I took it very badly. It was disrespectful.”