England's reputation on the line

13 April 2012

"If your business has a disaster, the bloke at the top takes the rap. What I tried to do was daft. We ended up with a shambles. From a coaching point of view it was a major stuff-up."

Those were the words of England head coach Clive Woodward following the 76-0 record loss to Australia in Brisbane in 1998 at the start of what became known as the Tour from Hell, featuring Test beatings from the Wallabies, All Blacks (twice) and Springboks.

No matter what fate befalls Woodward and his tour party after they have left Heathrow today for the three-Test tour to New Zealand and Australia, the head coach will not be delivering a similarly scathing assessment.

Woodward was in charge of a callow tour party six years ago and that is an accusation you cannot level at the squad that captain Lawrence Dallaglio is taking Down Under. Men such as Mike Catt, Matt Dawson, Simon Shaw, Danny Grewcock, Martin Corry, Julian White and Richard Hill are seasoned internationals and Woodward's preparations are now world class thanks to an extensive management team.

If England lose both Tests to New Zealand and the World Cup rematch with Australia, they will have finished a remarkable 12 months with five defeats from their last six matches.

While no one can take that World Cup title away, the historic achievement would be tarnished.

That's the nature of sport and any tour losses will not have an asterisk indicating Jonny Wilkinson was missing along with the non-touring Phil Vickery, Jason Robinson, Will Greenwood and Ben Kay. England are the world champions whenever they take the pitch and Woodward is acutely aware of the potential dangers lurking Down Under this summer.

Woodward's men inflicted humiliation on the All Blacks and Wallabies in their own backyards 12 months ago and the World Cup triumph has only raised the bounty on English scalps.

Last June, with Wilkinson and Martin Johnson to the fore, England defeated New Zealand in Wellington with a defensive action to stand alongside Rorke's Drift, while they destroyed Australia in Melbourne a week later utilising a brand of rugby that signalled the peak of their performance graph. They have never reached that point again - not even at the World Cup Final in Sydney in November.

However, Woodward has faith in his players and his only focus is turning up at Dunedin on 12 June with a team ready to beat the All Blacks and prove that this isn't another tour too far for tired and battered players.

A combative Woodward said: "I believe that the best thing England can do at the moment is to go head-to-head with the best teams in the world. We have a strong team and mind-set and we are going to put the Six Nations disappointments behind us and finish the season on a high."

Woodward has been at pains to make it clear that while the backs are missing key personnel, the forwards arriving in

New Zealand on Friday are good enough to beat anyone. "It is a very exciting squad with a group of forwards who will worry any team in the world," he said. "We are looking for a great end to a fantastic season which has seen England win the World Cup.

"Now, we need these players to take the England squad forward. It's now all about winning your next game and that comes in Dunedin against New Zealand on 12 June. This is a good place for England to go on tour and when it comes to an end then the World Cup season will be over."

Dallaglio, a double winner with London Wasps for the second successive season, is setting the tone for the tour and insists that tiredness is just a state of mind. The All Blacks have changed their entire coaching panel following a third place finish in the World Cup and do not have the tight forwards to dominate England. They will attempt to expose England out wide and keep the ball away from men such as Shaw, Grewcock, Hill and Dallaglio.

Dallaglio knows what will be required and said: "From a personal and team point of view, it had taken 30 years for us to win a game in New Zealand and having broken that sequence a year ago in Wellington, it's vital that we go back to that country and front up."

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