Woodward warns of local backlash

England's head coach said: 'This tournament is unique. The local rivalry between the countries increases the capacity to create upsets. Winning the Grand Slam is as difficult as winning the World Cup.

'The Six Nations is the No 2 tournament in the world after the World Cup. France made the semi-finals and Ireland could have got there. We have moved ahead of the Tri-Nations on every front.

'The Slam was very important to us last year and it's going to be very difficult for any team to win every game this year.'

Italy coach John Kirwan wasted no time emphasising the point at yesterday's London launch of the tournament, promising that the Azzurri would give the champions the game of their lives when they breeze into Rome on Sunday week.

The absence of Martin Johnson and Jonny Wilkinson will encourage Kirwan to dream of plotting the most improbable upset in Italian sport since the 'Ambling Alp', Primo Carnera, knocked Jack Sharkey out at Madison Square Garden in 1933 and came back with the world heavyweight boxing title.

Kirwan said: 'You are hitting it on the head but you're helping Clive by writing about it. The more they are aware of it, the less chance of it happening. If it was a possibility, it's probably less of one now.

'Woodward is too good not to guard against that. Sometimes people tell you: "You're great. You can beat anyone at 50 per cent" and the wrong message can get through to some players. I want to beat England at full strength. I want Wilkinson to be there. I want everyone else to be there, too.'

In their determination to bust a gut as never before, the Italians have gone beyond the grave to rescue their abrasive scrum half, Alessandro Troncon, from immediate retirement.

Kirwan said: 'They took the knee ligament from a dead person and gave it to Alessandro. I told them to make sure the dead person was a fast runner! Now, 32 days after the operation, Alessandro is running about again.'

Though Troncon will not make it in time for next week, Kirwan said: 'I intend to give them the game of their lives by totally throwing caution to the wind. You can never show the world champions too much respect. Remember what happened to the England soccer team in 1966.'

Curiously, Lawrence Dallaglio had referred to the same historic occasion - Scotland's victory over Sir Alf Ramsey's side in 1967 - half an hour earlier.

England's new captain said: 'The first defeat after the World Cup, wherever it comes, will be big news, as it was in 1967. I know how I'd feel if I were playing against the world champions. I'd want a piece of them and every team will be thinking the same.'

Woodward did not win the World Cup without having a perceptive insight into what makes the opposition tick, and Kirwan's promise of what awaits England will merely confirm his suspicions about avoiding an ambush in Rome. 'We will be very, very wary of Italy,' he said.

Eddie O'Sullivan, whose Ireland team went within one match of their first Slam for more than 50 years before subsiding towards the end of the Dublin decider last spring, gave England a further rough idea of what awaits them.

O'Sullivan, whose side kick off in Paris on Saturday week, said: 'Even though they are world champions, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that they will be turned over - not by everybody but certainly by one or two teams. Despite the fact that they have been the best team in the world for two or three years, it has taken England five years to win the Grand Slam.

'Martin Johnson gave such an incredible captain' s performance in the second half of the World Cup Final that he will be very hard to replace. England without Wilkinson are a very different animal because he is pretty well irreplaceable.'