England pay a small price for 16th-man error

One obvious casualty of this inquiry has been England's training plans for the clash with Uruguay on Sunday. With Luger and Gomarsall in Sydney and unable to fly back to Queensland until tomorrow morning, the training schedule has been put back until later in the day.

England had already decided to restrict themselves to two full training days after giving the players three days off after nearly a month of Cup action.

But although the penalty is relatively minor, World Cup independent judicial officer Brian McLaughlin's judgement will only heap further criticism on an England squad that is by some way the most unpopular team at the tournament. Their detractors wanted a reduction in their match points, but England were saved from this option.

Going into their final match with Uruguay, they are top of their pool and on course for a quarter-final clash with Wales.

Finishing second would have meant a last-eight meeting with New Zealand.

England, with the biggest back-up staff at the World Cup, have yet to explain why the key role of getting replacements on and off the pitch was given to a man whose expertise is keeping the players fit.

When the incident happened, Woodward was sitting high in the stands in a box designated for coaches and linked to the touchline by a radio system. He was shouting in Reddin's earpiece to get Luger on to the pitch when centre Mike Tindall was injured on the far side of the ground. It is clear that panic ensued, with Reddin yelling to Luger to get on to the pitch. Luger failed to wait until a break in play and the go-ahead from fourth official, New Zealander Steve Walsh.

Patently, this paints a poor picture of England's off-the-field team and there will be a noholdsbarred debriefing within the the management set-up when Woodward returns to the Gold Coast base tomorrow.

Woodward tried to defuse the situation by subsequently accepting the England match officials made a mistake.

When Richard Smith was announced in the England party at the start of the Cup campaign, it appeared that Woodward was over egging the pudding but the solicitor had a vital role to play in keeping the Cup dream alive.

Samoa coaches John Boe and Michael Jones have consistently said they view the matter closed and want to move on. Now, everyone can start thinking about the 15-man game again.