Shaw spills the beans

funky penguin

From Planet Rugby

In an extraordinary revelation, British & Irish Lions late bloomer Simon Shaw has labelled Sir Clive Woodward as 'cowardly' in snippets released from his upcoming autobiography.

The sizeable Wasps forward, who ended his twelve-year wait to pull on the coveted Test jersey in South Africa, was long overlooked as an England regular since the turn of the millennium.

Martin Johnson was instead seen as the required hard man of Woodward's regime, with the now Team Manager leading superbly in Australia.

But it was the treatment Shaw received that made things tough to take, as he reveals in the Daily Mail's serialisation of his book 'The Hard Yards', which is released on August 6.

"My mobile rang at around 6.30am as I was driving the hired removal van to the new home I was desperate to furnish before abandoning my wife, Jane, and our week-old daughter, Samantha, and heading to Australia for the 2003 Rugby World Cup," he explained of events leading up to the tournament.

"Expecting Jane to be on the phone, I didn't register the name or number that came up, and the first indication that my day was about to go rapidly downhill was the sound of a spluttering voice: 'Hello . . . hello . . . Simon, this is Clive Woodward. Sorry, but you haven't made the World Cup squad.'

"With that phone call, I inadvertently stumbled into an example of Clive's cowardice when it came to delivering bad news.

"Clive always tried to avoid direct contact with those he was ejecting from a squad or team by phoning them at some ungodly hour so you wouldn't answer the phone and he wouldn't have to speak to you."

Shaw eventually did receive an enforced call-up to that victorious squad yet failed to don the white jersey as he watched from the stands - enjoying the experience no less he might add.

The 35-year-old remained a spectator for that epic final alongside other unfortunates but it was his coach's strange quirks, paranoia and lack of praise towards him that hurt the most.

"As it turned out, I had plenty of time to get the house straight before I was eventually called up as a replacement for the injured Danny Grewcock and went on to collect a World Cup winners' medal - despite not playing a single minute of the tournament," he explained.

"If Clive Woodward ever asked me out to dinner, I would have to say No. I don't have anything against him as a person, but I've seen weaknesses in his character that I don't like.

"As England head coach, he was immensely paranoid and quite often shirked responsibility.

"There were times when he stood up and addressed everyone and made it abundantly clear that we won and lost together.

"Then, after a defeat, you would hear him announcing publicly that the management had done their best and that, as coaches, it was difficult to influence anything once the players had taken the pitch.

"When we won, though, he was at the front of the queue when it came to collecting any awards and plaudits."

Back-tracking to before the tournament, Shaw believed his efforts in warm-up fixtures against Wales and France warranted praise from either Woodward or his assistant Andy Robinson.

But none was forthcoming until Grewcock became an England lock casualty and Shaw was promptly on a plane to join the rest of the squad.

"When I got there, Clive shook my hand and said: 'I knew you would get out here,'" he said.

"I couldn't honestly say he seemed pleased to see me. Clive always had very strong views and did pretty much everything he said he was going to do.

"However, this didn't make up for the fact that he would shirk confrontation with players and consistently failed to find a decent way of telling people whether they were in or out. I felt that side of him was cowardly.

"I didn't get on in the quarter-final against Wales and didn't even make the bench in the semi-final against France.

"I thought: 'You might as well enjoy being here as you're not going to be playing.'

"Nine of us had to sit out the final, drinking from bottles of Lucozade, which became a bit more interesting once 'Ronnie' Regan had added the vodka he'd sneaked into the ground.

"Regan pondered the prospect of Clive getting a knighthood if we won. That didn't sit terribly well with me. Pretty much anyone in charge of that team would have won the trophy. I hadn't been involved in a single minute of a winning World Cup campaign.

"Basically, I had nicked Grewcock's medal. I stuck it in my kitbag. At no point did I hold the World Cup on that open-top bus ride in London. I thought to touch it was hypocritical.

"Clive's England regime had been dictatorial. I remember Joe Worsley trying to pipe up at a team meeting and he got shot down; it was bully-boyish.

"Clive also believed in 'compulsory fun'. A squad trip to the pub meant we would all troop into the chosen venue, knowing that if you actually ordered a pint of beer the eyes of the management would seek you out.

"You would stand there, soft drink in hand, wondering why you were in a pub when you might as well have been in a children's play area."

Two years on and Woodward had landed the Lions top job for their task in New Zealand, which ultimately turned into a series whitewash despite all the planning and squad size.

Shaw admitted he was immediately sceptical of the style Woodward and his staff planned to adopt, with one of those bonding techniques including team wristbands.

"When I looked at all the plans for Clive's 2005 Lions tour to New Zealand, my immediate reaction was: 'This has disaster written all over it.'" he explained.

"I felt that if Clive started churning out the same stuff for the Welsh, Scottish and Irish players, they were going to roll their eyes and think 'who the hell is this guy?' because some of his ideas were extraordinary.

"Clive had come up with a theme for the tour based on 'The Power of Four' - the four home unions - and he sent the players a package containing his blueprint for the trip, plus a plastic wristband with 'Power of Four' written on it.

"Did he really think we were all going to wander around with those on?

"Clive also brought in a round-the-world sailor to talk about swallows and other aspects of his life. The Welsh guys couldn't stop laughing. It wasn't until I listened to them that I realised how ridiculous some of Clive's ideas were, although I did have a fairly jaundiced view.

"Not part of the original Lions squad but recruited late because of injury, I met Craig White, the Lions and Wasps fitness coach, on arrival.

"Asked how things were, he replied: 'Don't ask, it's an absolute f****** nightmare. I want to go home.'

"I couldn't understand how Whitey had lost faith so quickly. It soon became clear; it was all down to control and that Clive was in charge.

"Lineout calls are always a priority for a new squad. The Lions had the most complicated set of calls I had ever encountered.

"But Clive allowed his paranoia to run riot. He believed New Zealand were using their SAS soldiers and special audio equipment to record our calls in training.

"Clive responded with the absolutely insane decision to change all the calls on the eve of the first Test, a decision tantamount to suicide.

"Then, in the build-up to the second Test, Clive invited Alastair Campbell to address the squad.

"He got up in front of us and said he had been in many battlefields and that he had seen the worst of the worst.

"He said soldiers were prepared to put their lives at risk and we should do the same.

"Had it been a soldier addressing us it would have had an impact, but this was the 'King of Spin' - quite extraordinary."

Chucky the tree

Jesus, it really makes clive look like some twat, and to be fair everything clive has touched since he won the WC in 03 has gone to **** as well.

thomond2006

Ouch.

SAS, changing calls the night before? You can't be serious....

zAbbo

Madness.

Seems like a decent enough book, I like Shaw - he always appears honest, but there's a little bit of bitterness in that piece.

Crash

Little bit? Bucketloads - sounds like it could be an interesting read though. The Sackey thing is quite weird too.

nerophis

Crash wrote: »

The Sackey thing is quite weird too.

What happened?

Tim Robbins

thomond2006 wrote: »

Ouch.

SAS, changing calls the night before? You can't be serious....

And everyone lambasted poor old Shane Byrne for the first try.

thomond2006

Tim Robbins wrote: »

And everyone lambasted poor old Shane Byrne for the first try.

Yeah, Sky Sports p***ks.

Gelio

I would pay to see CW read that book, or even the article:D

thomond2006

ajeffares wrote: »

I would pay to see CW read that book, or even the article:D

and hire Alistair Campbell to "spin" it in his favour somehow.

funky penguin

nerophis wrote: »

What happened?

He claims that Sackey was in a car accident during the 2007 world cup.

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_5426897,00.html

danthefan

I'm no fan of SCW but to me it seems like a case of sour grapes at being left out from Shaw.

Amabokke

Very good reading indeed. This just confirms that Clive Woodward has always been a "the name Shaw called him above" and clearly had his favourites.

I believe England would've won the 2003WC without Woodies because of the experience and leadership of Johnson, Dallaghlio, Best, Wilkinson, Robinson and Greenwood.

buck65

Amabokke wrote: »

Very good reading indeed. This just confirms that Clive Woodward has always been a "the name Shaw called him above" and clearly had his favourites.

I believe England would've won the 2003WC without Woodies because of the experience and leadership of Johnson, Dallaghlio, Best, Wilkinson, Robinson and Greenwood.

Agreed, Woodward is a donkey.

Cool_CM

Amabokke wrote: »

I believe England would've won the 2003WC without Woodies because of the experience and leadership of Johnson, Dallaghlio, Best, Wilkinson, Robinson and Greenwood.

Always struck me as the kind of coach who just inherited a good team, who would have gone out and won no matter who was coaching them. A bit like EOS (who somehow managed to f*ck it up).....

thomond2006

I think we should sit back for a moment and remember that Simon Shaw is trying to sell a book here and many of these events are probably exaggerated.

Then again, when it comes to Sir Clive, they're probably not.

bleg

no point buying the book now, they always release the best bits before the book goes on sale.

Ciaran-Irl

Fits right in with that lie he made up about D'arcy refusing to play in the third test in 2005 'because he was tired'.

Eoin

Cool_CM wrote: »

Always struck me as the kind of coach who just inherited a good team, who would have gone out and won no matter who was coaching them.

Same as the last world cup for them as well, Ashton seemed to have sweet F.A. to do with them getting to the final.

Cool_CM wrote: »

A bit like EOS (who somehow managed to f*ck it up).....

That's unfair.

handsomecake

lets call a spade a spade here.
woodward is a prat,but at the end of the day he picked 15 players who won the world cup.shaw was not one of them,but they still won it!!! he has not got a leg to stand on

wixfjord

Has anyone here read woodward's book, wouldnt think he was a prat if you had. Great coach imo.

thomond2006

wixfjord wrote: »

Has anyone here read woodward's book, wouldnt think he was a prat if you had. Great coach imo.

I bet it don't mention the SAS!! :D:D

zAbbo

Haven't read CW's book, although I'll stick it on the list.

But a coaches opinion of himself will always differ from actual players.

One thing about Shaw saying he didn't handle telling players they were cut is echoed in Austin Healys book as well.

From what I remember Henson certainly didn't think much of him, and the story on D'Arcy during the lions would also back this up.