Woodward hits back over treatment of injured England players

Clive Woodward is not easily flabbergasted these days: the combination of Richard Cockerill's less than poetic autobiography and England's bone-headed Grand Slam defeat in Dublin a year ago left the England manager with a philosophical streak the width of Twickenham's green acres. He was fairly dumbfounded yesterday, however, following allegations that he had dragged 19 injured players all the way to the team base in Surrey on Sunday evening, only to pack them off home again on Monday morning.

"Total balls," he spluttered. "Yes, we had two days of fitness testing in the early part of the week, and yes, a number of players were unable to participate because of injury and were told to return to their clubs for treatment. But there was no three-line whip, and I did not act the schoolmaster. Some players – Trevor Woodman [the Gloucester prop], Ollie Smith [the Leicester centre] and Phil Christophers [the Bristol wing] – did not travel at all because their club doctors got in touch with the England medical team and said there was no point them making the trip. That was fine by me. It was common sense.

"This suggestion that we are forcing everyone to attend sessions, even if they are on their death beds, is ridiculous and very upsetting, not least because the deal agreed recently by the Rugby Football Union and the Premiership clubs is actually working well. If a player is injured and his club doctor communicates that information to us, we are happy to accept that advice. I have had nothing other than excellent feedback from players, clubs and directors of rugby on the way we are handling our sessions."

Woodward has increased access to current and potential England players as a result of the Elite Player Scheme, which forms a major plank of his preparations for next year's World Cup in Australia. The issue of player release has caused a good deal of heartburn, both for the manager and the various directors of rugby dotted around the Premiership landscape: most clubs do their heavy training on Mondays and Tuesdays and are frustrated by the absence of key personnel, while the increase in Sunday matches means that England sessions are frequently compromised. But at least there is an agreement in place, which is a 100-fold improvement on last season.

Injuries are the bane of rugby life, as Gloucester and Bath rediscovered yesterday. Gloucester, the Premiership leaders, will go into this weekend's fixture with Saracens without their outstanding Samoan loose forward Junior Paramore, who cracked a cheekbone during the draw at Bath last Saturday. Paramore may also miss the Heineken Cup pool matches with Munster and Viadana, so Peter Buxton, a headline signing from Newport at the end of last season, should finally get a chance to impress his new employers.

Bath, meanwhile, may be forced to rest their international lock Steve Borthwick for another week. Borthwick has yet to play this season, having undergone surgery on a damaged knee during the summer, but he was pencilled in for a run against Leicester tomorrow until he suffered a minor setback in a contact session two days ago.