Cive Talks - Winning and thanks to the supporters!

IRB COACH OF 2003!
By Kath 24/11/03
November 24 2003

Clive talks to Zurich's Andrew Titheridge about the supporters, the coaching staff and the England squad players who did not make it to Australia?

For immediate release: 24 November 2003
Issued on behalf of Zurich

Clive Woodward Transcript on www.zurichpremiership.com
23rd November 2003

Sydney

Andrew Titheridge:  Your reflections on that match yesterday; it was an immense effort by a great team wasn’t it?

Clive Woodward: That just about sums it up, my reflections are about the crowd, I was just so proud to see so many there, and so many millions of supporters back home and I am so proud of the team they really stepped up to the mark. It was incredibly close, I think that we should have won the game with something to spare before the end, we made a lot of errors and I am sure
that it was an exciting game to watch. I am just very, very pleased, it is Sunday today and I just can’t wait to get on that plane tomorrow.

Andrew Titheridge:  Will there be a touch of sadness that this great team that has now won the World Cup will now probably be broken up?

Clive Woodward:   I don’t think that the team will necessarily break-up but life does move on, but we take it all in our stride and the biggest thing to me is that this current England team is not just going to be a blip, we have got to keep the momentum going and all these players have got a huge role to play in the future and I hope that all thirty of them plus Graham Rowntree, Austin Healey and Danny Grewcock will be available for selection in February for the Six Nations. They have played outstandingly well and you don’t want to break a team up. I have just asked them all to go home and not make any rash decisions over the next couple of months and see how they feel in January or February. It is a great team, we had a saying that it was going from good to great and they have always been a very good team and I think that they proved it against all adversity last night, every decision seemed to go against them and yet they still won and that is the sign of a champion team and they are a!   great bunch of players with a great captain and I am just very, very proud and privileged to be in charge of them.

Andrew Titheridge: And a word about the coaching staff they have been magnificent.

Clive Woodward:    Again we have got a brilliant team, I can’t speak highly enough of Andy Robinson, Phil Larder, who are the main coaches along with myself. But the whole team has been brilliant, we have an excellent back up staff and we have thrown the kitchen sink at this and won. Big thanks to the RFU who have helped enormously and equally a big thanks to the Zurich Premiership clubs, this success is for the whole of English rugby and there is a lot of people who put a lot of time, money and effort into this and I am very lucky to be heading it all up and delighted for all the fans especially and to do something very special by playing and beating a tremendous team like Australia and having been involved in such a fantastic tournament which has been outstanding in terms of organisation. I will never forget walking out on that pitch and seeing so many white shirts, it is something that I will remember forever, so a big thank you and a big thank you to the millions of people back home. They have been awesome and I hope that they have enjoyed it as much as we have.

Andrew Titheridge:    We have spoken for 45 days on the trot, I don’t think that there has been a cross word! I have thoroughly enjoyed it and I think that your thoughts throughout have been fantastic, thank you for that and you can now have the rest of the year off!

Clive Woodward:    I am looking forward to Christmas, I will miss you every morning, I don’t know what I’ll do! I don’t know who I’ll talk to, so I will probably end up talking to myself! It has been great and I hope everyone appreciates what we have done via Zurich for this World Cup.

ENDS