Rugby Union: England on the right route at last

Victory over the South African world champions indicates that Woodward's grand plan is falling into place.

IT MAY not be a glittering prize on the scale of the Webb Ellis Trophy or even the Cook Cup, but at least Clive Woodward can claim to be the proud owner of the shortest-lived nickname in sporting history. Clive Wayward, indeed. The England coach may have taken a few scenic routes over the past 15 months, even headed the wrong way down the odd one-way Parisian boulevard and disappeared up the occasional Cape Town cul-de- sac, but he always had a clear idea of his destination. Now that his players have pointed themselves in the same direction, the world is their isotonic oyster.

For all his apparent madcappery, Woodward has created an entirely new national side from the unpromising piles of rubble dotted around Sydney after last year's pasting by the Wallabies. What is more, he has done it by flying in the face of selectorial orthodoxy and backing his own instincts, rather than playing safe.

Woodward is remarkably consistent in his inconsistency; after all, if form and fitness are a coach's only yardsticks, true consistency cannot be an option. His unapologetically imaginative approach has allowed him to ape the Australians, for whom he has huge respect, in fast-tracking young talent through the thick stodge that passes for the English "system". Matt Perry, David Rees, Dan Luger, Phil Vickery and Danny Grewcock (only two of whom participated in Saturday's successful exercise in Bok-boshing) are all putative members of next year's World Cup squad. Would Jack Rowell have favoured them so swiftly? Hardly.

Add to this the successful recasting of some more experienced Test acts - Tim Rodber from No 8 to lock, Richard Hill from open-side specialist to back-row Proteus, Matt Dawson from non-kicker to golden boot - and the Woodward critics, out in force last Saturday morning and back in hiding by Saturday night, are suddenly confronted by a small but cleverly constructed wall of solid progress. Some experiments may have left the coach with a six-inch layer of carbon on his face, but others have significantly advanced the England cause.

Of course, one victory over a weary South African side does not bestow World Cup legitimacy on a hit-or-miss contender, although it is reasonable to predict that the Murdoch-financed grind of Super 12 and Tri-Nations will leave the Boks every bit as knackered next autumn as they appeared during this most recent foray north of the equator. Woodward still needs to think through his options at half-back - on a bad day, Dawson and Mike Catt are more likely to be away with the fairies than away down the touchline - and to conduct some further investigations on the goal-kicking front. All coaches wax lyrical about try-scoring potential, but as the Wallabies proved at Twickenham 10 days ago, successful penalties win the points that win the prizes.

Yet it is impossible to exaggerate the significance of last Saturday's victory to a promising side in dire need of reassurance. Unlike last season, when their reward for staying the distance with the All Blacks was a perilous trip to Paris, they play their next game, against Scotland, on their own mudheap; by which time, Will Greenwood should be back alongside Jeremy Guscott in midfield and Woodward should be in a position to run Perry, Rees and Luger together for the first time. The French must also come to Twickenham, so the cards really have fallen face up.

"The thing about this team," mused the coach on Saturday night, "is that when they are together for a reasonable period of time, they get better week on week. It happened last year, when we completed a four-week stint by drawing with New Zealand, and it's happened again this time. It's no coincidence, no accident of circumstance. Ask any southern hemisphere coach about the importance of time spent together and they will give you a one-word answer: crucial. We're still miles behind the south in terms of structure, but at least I'll have the squad for a full month before the World Cup."

If England can go from dire (against Italy) and naive (against Australia) to beating the world champions in the space of three short weeks, the shape of the forthcoming schedule - four weeks together in Australia this summer, September in purdah before the World Cup and a maximum of five weeks in each other's pockets during the tournament proper - suggests they might be capable of anything. At the moment, Woodward looks about as wayward as Steve "Interesting" Davis on a quiet day.