Woodward famously described Dallaglio as acting "like a prat" during the Sunday newspaper 'sting' that saw him lose the national captaincy in 1999, with Johnson taking over.
That period shook English rugby to leave Dallaglio's career in the balance and Woodward said: "Lol got badly stitched up during that period but I never had any doubt he would come back better and stronger.
"If I had thought he had been guilty of anything other than naivety, then I would have said so. I would never have backed him so strongly."
Woodward believes Dallaglio can follow Johnson's lead and become a key management figure for club and country. The Wasps captain is taking his level three RFU coaching qualifications and will help select the Lions back-row forwards for next year's tour of South Africa.
"If Lol is single-minded then he can be a success as a coach or manager," said Woodward, who is also director of elite performance at the British Olympic Association.
"He would do a very good job but he can't have any distractions."
For now, Dallaglio is focused on finishing his outstanding club career with another trophy, having helped Wasps rise from near the bottom of the Premiership in October - when they had a dozen players at the World Cup - to second place at the end of the regular season.
Eight successive wins took them hurtling into the play-offs and now they face the only other team who can match their success in the last decade.
Wasps and Leicester have taken it in turns to dominate English domestic and European rugby and the clubs contested last season's Heineken Cup Final, which followed Tigers'Premiership victory.
The antipathy between the teams - encapsulated by a well-used picture of Dallaglio and Corry grabbing each other's throats during a match - will ensure that sentiment is left off the pitch at Twickenham.
The match is an 83,000 sell-out which is testament to the success of the Premiership this season, despite the disruptions caused by the World Cup.
The supporters point to the fact that Leicester and Wasps were badly hit by international call-ups during two periods of the season and then came up strongly on the rails when those players were back in the fold.
