Sir Clive Woodward believes Steve Borthwick can transform England and outlines a short-term plan blending leadership lessons and practical team work to ignite results
England’s rugby programme is at a pivotal moment, and Sir Clive Woodward believes the next few weeks could decide its direction. Having rebuilt a national side before, Woodward has urged Steve Borthwick and his coaching team to treat the coming three-week window as a chance to set tone, priorities and momentum — not with a wholesale overhaul, but with focused, repeatable actions that restore clarity and belief.
A short, sharp plan
Woodward’s prescription mixes leadership principles with concrete rugby measures. He argues that when a team is wobbling, structure and visible leadership can be as powerful as tactical tinkering. His approach hinges on small, low-cost interventions — what he calls “energisers” — plus a handful of clear priorities that are easy to practise and impossible to ignore.
The idea is to create quick, tangible wins that rebuild confidence and provide a platform for steady improvement.
Why the next three weeks matter
The directive is aimed squarely at Borthwick and his backroom staff: define a narrow set of actions, run them relentlessly in training camp, and let their effects carry into match preparations.
Short-term focus offers a controlled environment to trial tactical tweaks, hard-wire defensive patterns, and sharpen decision-making. Rather than overcomplicating the game plan, Woodward wants the team to simplify roles and reward behaviour that reflects England’s identity — routines that players can execute instinctively when the pressure rises.
Concentrated preparation and psychological momentum
Tightly focused preparation accelerates learning because feedback loops shrink: mistakes are spotted, corrected and rehearsed again within days. Upcoming fixtures become laboratories where specific roles and patterns are tested, not sweeping experiments. Coaches should set only two or three tactical themes per match, give each theme a named owner, and measure adherence with uncomplicated indicators. Those small, deliberate wins stack up — they shift mood, restore trust and improve decision-making under fire.
Woodward borrows from corporate thinking here. Leading organisations use short, disciplined pilots to reduce risk, tease out what scales, and build the routines that underpin sustained change. Elite sport functions the same way: measured, repeatable steps beat grand, vague plans.
Rituals that stick
Central to Woodward’s plan are energisers — brief, emotionally engaging rituals designed to sharpen focus and lift intensity without sapping energy. The point is not pageantry but habit creation. When rituals are short, repeatable and led consistently, they become part of the squad’s muscle memory. Assign leaders to run them, script them so they are reliable, and treat adherence like any other operational KPI.
Translate virtues into behaviour
Woodward invokes figures such as Nelson Mandela not to suggest political mimicry, but to illustrate leadership qualities that bind groups through testing times: listening, patience, moral clarity and the ability to unite different personalities. In rugby terms, those translate into a captain who communicates calmly under pressure, coaches who apply standards evenly, and a culture where accountability is visible and predictable.
Symbolism matters only when it’s concrete. That’s why Woodward urges that symbolic acts — pre-match routines, public calls to standards, visible accountability — align closely with everyday drills and feedback. When symbols and S&C and tactical work point in the same direction, change is more durable.
Practical rugby measures
Woodward pairs cultural fixes with specific on-field prescriptions. He wants:
- – Clear accountability frameworks that name roles, expected actions and short review points.
- Recognition that rewards the behaviours you want to see — punctuality, communication, role discipline — not just match results.
- Tight feedback loops: concise, actionable notes within 24–48 hours and targeted one-on-one check-ins.
- A simplified tactical plan: a core set of plays and triggers that players can execute instinctively when game tempo spikes.
- A balanced squad mix: veterans to model standards and younger players to inject intensity and freshness.
These are pragmatic steps: reduce unforced errors, sharpen communication, and create consistency in selection and performance. Woodward also stresses workload management — short-term intensity should not lead to mid-term depletion. Rotate intelligently, tie decisions to recovery metrics, and make player welfare a planning principle, not an afterthought.
A short, sharp plan
Woodward’s prescription mixes leadership principles with concrete rugby measures. He argues that when a team is wobbling, structure and visible leadership can be as powerful as tactical tinkering. His approach hinges on small, low-cost interventions — what he calls “energisers” — plus a handful of clear priorities that are easy to practise and impossible to ignore. The idea is to create quick, tangible wins that rebuild confidence and provide a platform for steady improvement.0
A short, sharp plan
Woodward’s prescription mixes leadership principles with concrete rugby measures. He argues that when a team is wobbling, structure and visible leadership can be as powerful as tactical tinkering. His approach hinges on small, low-cost interventions — what he calls “energisers” — plus a handful of clear priorities that are easy to practise and impossible to ignore. The idea is to create quick, tangible wins that rebuild confidence and provide a platform for steady improvement.1
A short, sharp plan
Woodward’s prescription mixes leadership principles with concrete rugby measures. He argues that when a team is wobbling, structure and visible leadership can be as powerful as tactical tinkering. His approach hinges on small, low-cost interventions — what he calls “energisers” — plus a handful of clear priorities that are easy to practise and impossible to ignore. The idea is to create quick, tangible wins that rebuild confidence and provide a platform for steady improvement.2
A short, sharp plan
Woodward’s prescription mixes leadership principles with concrete rugby measures. He argues that when a team is wobbling, structure and visible leadership can be as powerful as tactical tinkering. His approach hinges on small, low-cost interventions — what he calls “energisers” — plus a handful of clear priorities that are easy to practise and impossible to ignore. The idea is to create quick, tangible wins that rebuild confidence and provide a platform for steady improvement.3
