Woodward's blend of simplicity and cheek boosts England

Watching Wasps v Gloucester on television a couple of weeks ago, I was rather surprised to see that one of the half-time experts was none other than Clive Woodward, the England manager.

He was, he told us, very impressed with the match so far. He was particularly impressed by the "physical commitment'' shown by both sides, which was certainly a polite way of putting it. The Gloucester pack were clearly making a commendable effort. As for Wasps, it was good to see Lawrence Dallaglio, who had made a run any centre would have been proud of (my words rather than Woodward's), fully recovered from his injury and back to his old form. There was a bit more along the same lines; whereupon Woodward gave way to the advertisements and the second half.

I do not want to make heavy weather of this. Woodward is neither the Secretary to the Cabinet nor a High Court judge. Indeed, there are commentators who believe this country would be a healthier place if such exalted individuals appeared more frequently on television to explain their often strange decisions to the watching millions.

Still, I wondered. Was it, I wondered, right, was it wise, was it – to use that peculiarly irritating modern word – appropriate, for the manager of the England rugby team to be appearing on Sky Television on a Saturday afternoon, giving us the benefit of his views on numerous players who would inevitably figure in his thoughts for the matches that were to lie ahead?

And what about the fee? Rupert Murdoch, it is true, is not renowned for his generosity to those who turn up in his studios, say a few words and go away again. For instance, I make very occasional appearances on the programme covering Prime Minister's Questions. It involves slightly under an hour's quite taxing work. For this I am paid £100, less VAT.

Did Woodward pocket the fee or hand it over to the Rugby Football Union's Widows' and Orphans' Fund? Or was there no fee? I should like to know; that is all.

This is not intended to be an attack on the England manager: far from it. The whole not very important episode illustrates his character, which is a curious combination of simplicity and cheek.

It would not have occurred to him that he was doing anything remotely questionable by appearing as he did on Sky, as distinct from being interviewed on his team's performance after a match. And, if the thought had crossed his mind, he would have sent it packing with the reflection that he was an honest man who was going to do precisely as he liked, irrespective of the views either of the RFU (if in this area it has any views) or of commentators on the game. He was, he would go on, content to be judged on his record.

There is no doubt that his record is very good, despite a tendency for England to lose just the one important game. There is some argument about where England are now placed in the international pecking order. A computer-generated table last season had them at the top. This was questionable, to say the least. On any reasonable computation New Zealand would have been ahead.

Nevertheless, England were undoubtedly in the top five. So they remain today. We shall not know the correct order before Christmas because the southern hemisphere countries will not all be fielding their full sides in the immediately forthcoming matches. We shall know it after the World Cup. I do not trust computers. Man is mightier than the machine is what I say.

Woodward's strength is that he is prepared not only to think the unthinkable but then to put his thoughts into practice. No other coach outside France, not even Ian McGeechan, would have put Jason Robinson at fullback. They might have thought about it, but they would not have done it. Likewise, few would have given James Simpson-Daniel his first cap against New Zealand. Even a depleted New Zealand.

England's pre-eminence would have been unthinkable 20 years ago. Before Woodward, Geoff Cooke and Jack Rowell played their part. They both had an obsession with size, Rowell particularly so, and their team played duller rugby than Woodward's. But remember the pack that England could have picked in the late 1980s and early 1990s: Leonard, Moore, Probyn, Ackford, Dooley, Teague, Richards, Winterbottom.

Jason Leonard is still with us, on the bench on Saturday. Martin Johnson, the only other player apart from Dallaglio who might have forced himself into this eight, did not win his first cap till 1993. But, thanks largely to Woodward, England are a more entertaining side today than they were then. As far as I am concerned, he can go on appearing on Sky.