These are 20 matches that shaped the England side
that will challenge for the World Cup final.
The head coach of England Clive
Woodward reign has been full of highs and lows, from
a strike over pay to drug allegations. But these
are the twenty matches that have formed the perfect
team in Clive Woodward's mind.
1 |
15 th
November 1997 v Australia (Twickenham) Drew
15-15
The first match with Woodward
as head coach was against the Wallabies, and
the referee was Andre Watson. Catt kicked five
penalty goals whilst Australia scored to tries-
George Gregan and Ben Tune. For this match
Lawrence Dallaglio was captain of the team,
but Woodward first selection included Johnson,
Leonard, Hill, Bracken and Greenwood in selection. |
2 |
6 th December 1997
v New Zealand (Twickenham) Drew 26-26 This
match proved to Woodward that he had the team
that could compete with the best of the southern
hemisphere teams. Even though the All Black
team was full of well known stars, the England
side still out scored them with three tries
to two. These were scored by David Rees, Hill
and Dallaglio. Back was also in the team that
played that day, this gave the back row of
six years a recognise look. |
3 |
6 th June 1998 v
Australia ( Brisbane ) Lost 0-76
This
was the England side was defeat and Clive's
lowest point in his reign. The England side
was young, inexperienced and experimental and
Australia scored 11 tries against this team.
From the team that day only Jonny Wilkinson – fly
half and Phil Vickery were the two players
that were the stronger players on their debut.
Because of this match Clive was criticised
for choosing a team that was missing its first
choice players due to injury. This tour was
dubbed the “Tour from Hell” by the England
team. |
4 |
5 th December 1998
v South Africa won 13-7
After the
disappointment of the summer this was a giant
leap forward for the England Team. Before this,
Woodward's first victory against one of the
Tri-Nations countries, South Africa had recorded
17 straight wins. The match saw Matt Dawson
kick eight points, the pack included Johnson,
Hill, Leonard, Back and Dallaglio, the captain
and Catt was back at fly half. |
5 |
11 th April 1999
v Wales (Wembley Stadium) Lost 31-32
This
was grand slam of the last match of the Five
Nations Championship. Which England lost and
were stunned by Scott Gibbs's dramatic late
try and the conversion from Neil Jenkins. This
raised a few questions for Woodward in this
World Cup year. So his first answer was to
appoint Johnson as captain after Dallaglio
resigned at the wake of drug allegations. |
6 |
24 th October 1999
v South Africa ( Paris ) Lost 21-44
After
the defeat, Which is most noted for the England
team failing to prevent Jannie de Beer from
kicking a world record five drop goals, he
was still able to keep his job. For this match
Clive dropped Jonny for the big match preferring
Paul Grayson instead, although he did bring
on Wilkinson but it was too late. Woodward
told the critics to “Judge me on the World
Cup” in the build up to the tournament. |
7 |
2 nd April 2000
v Scotland (Edinburgh) Lost 13-19
The
England team had hope of a grand slam after
beating the French six weeks before, but they
failed at the last point against the Scots
in a rain drenched Murrayfield. On that day,
Dawson was captain as Johnson wasn't fit, Clive
found it hard to watch even with the team having
Dallaglio, Hill, Back, Vickery, Leonard, Wilkinson,
Tindall, Catt and Cohen got rattled and lost
their focus. |
8 |
24 th June 2000
v South Africa (Bloemfontein) Won 27-22
This
was certainly a big match for England as they
were beaten 18-13 a week before in Pretoria,
England levelled the series at 1-1 and only
their third win on the South African soil.
The match saw the coming of age for Wilkinson,
who now was 21 years old and he kicked eight
penalty goals and a drop goal in this wonderful
exhibition. |
9 |
18 th November 2000
v Australia (Twickenham) Won 22-19
This
match saw Andre Watson again be the referee,
in which he had to go to the TV replay before
he could make a decision over a Dan Luger's
last minute touchdown in a dramatic style.
Woodward said “This is a very significant.
It would have been a massive setback if we
had lost today.” |
10 |
20 th October 2001
v Ireland ( Dublin ) Lost 14-20
This
was the third year running that England had
lost a grand slam under Woodward and many were
saying it is no coincidence. For that match,
out of the England starting XV only Phil Greening
wasn't amongst the 30 man squad now in Sydney
. |
11 |
10 th November 2001
v Australia (Twickenham) Won 21-15
This
match had Johnson and Dallaglio out injured,
the England side need a boost. But Wilkinson
kicked all the point for England as Australia
score two tries as they were trailing 15-0
at half time. Was this a boring England side?
The Twickenham crowd didn't think so. |
12 |
2 nd March 2002
v France ( Paris ) Lost 15-20
As England
reached No1 in the official rankings after
they beat Ireland and Scotland , yet again
the talk was of a grand slam. It was disappointment
for England as France end up as Six Nations
Champions instead. |
13 |
9 th November 2002
v New Zealand (Twickenham) Won 31-28
This
match saw Woodward's preparations for the World
Cup 2003 go up a gear. England played the All
Blacks in which Jonah Lomu scored two tries
but England were the eventual winners in a
close fought out match. |
14 |
16 th November 2002
v Australia Won 32-31
This match saw
England rally together as they were stunned
by three Wallaby tries in ten minutes either
side of half time. England came back from 12
points down to claim victory and the Cook Cup
three times in a row. The try scorers for England
was Cohen (2) with Wilkinson kicking 22 points. |
15 |
23 rd November 2002
v South Africa (Twickenham) 53-3
This
match was tainted by the ill discipline of
the Springboks. England kept their discipline
as they pulled South Africa down to their heaviest
defeat. England scored seven tries one from
Dallaglio as he came off the bench with a point
to prove, the match also saw Wilkinson not
end the match as he suffered from a late tackle
by Jannes Labuschagne |
16 |
30 th March 2003
v Ireland ( Dublin ) Won 42-6
Finally
Woodward's side win a grand slam at the sixth
attempt. In this match Ireland played well
themselves by keeping England at 13-6 at half
time. But they couldn't contain them after
the break. At prop was Leonard and Rowntree
ahead of Woodman (on bench) and Vickery (injured). |
17 |
14 th June 2003
v New Zealand ( Wellington ) Won 15-13
For
the final preparation for the World Cup Woodward
has a short and sharp tour of New Zealand and
Australia . And his players respond with a
heroic victory. The turning point came when
Back and Dallaglio are both in the sin-bin
and the six man pack hold the All Black scrum
under their own posts. |
18 |
21 st June 2003
v Australia ( Melbourne ) Won 25-14
Woodward's
team became the first England team to win away
in Australia , and in style. The team out scored
the Wallabies three tries to one. The team
for this match with the exception of Bracken
starting and Dawson coming on later as a replacement
is the same for the one to challenge the World
Cup. |
19 |
18 th October 2003 v South Africa (
Perth) Won 25-6
This was England's
first big test of the World Cup, even though
they had a patchy time they still won comfortably
with the help of Greenwood's try and the boot
of Wilkinson, as he kicked 20 points. |
20 |
16 th November
2003 v
France ( Sydney )
Won 24-7
Woodward's prediction of
raising their game was paid off when it really
counted in a match that was expected to be
closer. Behind a dominant pack, England 's
Wilkinson was the star of the show in the
wind and rain. Lead by Clive Woodward this
journey has taken the team to its highest
point… the
World Cup final. |
