Woodward raves about Farrell, Itoje; England recall Spencer for final

Clive Woodward’s position as England’s only rugby World Cup-winning coach could be about to disappear in a week but he could not be happier and said he was in awe of the team and their coaches after Saturday’s 19-7 semi-final win over New Zealand.

Woodward, who led England to glory in 2003, has been tipping a second success at the tournament but, in his Mail on Sunday column, he said even he was surprised by their sustained excellence.

“England played with great tempo. They were massively powerful, disciplined, clever, indomitable, unmoveable - everything as a fan you’d want them to be,” he said.

“There was a beautiful variety to their game that New Zealand couldn’t cope with. England absolutely battered the All Blacks, the winning margin could, perhaps should, have been much greater.”

Woodward said that captain Owen Farrell and man of the match lock Maro Itoje particularly stood out in a wonderful team display.

“Farrell is why I have always believed England can take this World Cup. He is a winner, it’s in his DNA, he’s spent his career collecting silverware with Saracens. He knows how to deliver on the day,” Woodward said.

“Then we had the remarkable Itoje. For me he has been biding his time in this tournament. He knew the mighty summits that needed to be climbed towards the end and didn’t waste too much energy in the foothills.

“Perfectly efficient and effective in the pool games, he has won enough trophies with Sarries to know it’s a different ball game come the knock-out stages. Against Australia he was excellent, on Saturday he was off the scale against two of the world’s great locks in Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock.

“Huge physicality, invaluable steals on the floor, immovable at the ruck, marauding legally through various mauls, a thorough 24-carat nuisance from start to finish.”

Woodward also praised England’s tackling technique, as they have yet to pick up a yellow or red card - though Henry Slade was close to one on Saturday. “They have taken the high hit to the torso and chest completely out of their repertoire because it is too risky in terms of conceding penalties and cards,” he said.

“Instead, scores of crunching tackles and double tackles around the legs, thighs and midriff come raining in. More than any other team at the World Cup they have recognised the reality of the change of law and zero tolerance of hits anywhere near the head. Rugby can’t go backwards after this, the world can see fair tackling is possible.”

Meanwhile, Saracens scrumhalf Ben Spencer, who has 20 minutes of Test rugby to his name, is set for a shock place on England’s bench for the World Cup final after Willi Heinz was ruled out after damaging a hamstring in Saturday’s semi-final victory over New Zealand.

Heinz, himself a surprise selection in the World Cup squad and who made his debut in August, replaced Ben Youngs just after an hour and was visibly hobbling by the end.

England, who brought only two number nines to the tournament, announced on Sunday that Spencer would join the squad in Japan on Monday as an official injury replacement. No details were given on the extent of Heinz’s injury, but he will stay with the squad for the rest of the week.

The situation has echoes of New Zealand in the 2011 tournament when fourth-choice flyhalf Stephen Donald was summoned from holiday after an injury crisis — and ended up kicking the winning penalty in the final victory over France.

Spencer has come off the bench as a late replacement three times for England, twice on last year’s tour of South Africa and also against Scotland in the Six Nations in March, playing five, eight and seven minute cameos.

The 27-year-old was part of England’s pre-World Cup training camp in Treviso, Italy but was then cut from the squad.

Spencer’s call-up will be hard to take for Dan Robson, who has spent much of the last two years in and out of England squads and for a long time seemingly next in line, only to be discarded by Jones in the summer.

Agencies