Woodward: Our boys can beat the Boks

The shift in their respective global rankings since then and the Springboks' swaggering belief in their superiority may suggest otherwise but the architect-in-chief of success in 2003 begs to differ.

'We have the players to beat South Africa,' he said. 'I know we have - I know the players. The one team which has always had the Indian sign over South Africa is England. They can win that game and go all the way like four years ago. It's 50-50. Win and the World Cup will take off, lose and it will be very difficult but it's not doom and gloom.

'These are one-offs. People said we'd get beaten by France in the one semi-final four years ago and everyone said New Zealand would beat Australia in the other. I've been invited to both semifinals this time by the organisers, which is very nice, and I'll be going as an England fan with a white scarf around my neck.'

Beating South Africa this time will be infinitely more difficult than in Perth where England, then the world No 1 team, had only a Will Greenwood try to show for seeing off a second-rate bunch whom they had beaten by 50 points at Twickenham less than a year before.

The holders having since slumped from first to seventh in the rankings, there is always the danger of their former head coach arriving in France after England have been counted out.

The squad bound for Paris next week includes 11 of the World Cup winners from Woodward's original cast of 30, among them Jason Robinson, off on the last mission of his epic career.

By then, England will have decided whether to change their full back yet again and put the Yorkshireman there for the final few matches before he rides off into the autumn sunset.

A position occupied by seven different players in almost as many matches over the past six months is under scrutiny once more as the holders examine the need to make better use of Robinson's game-breaking capacity before launching their trophy defence against the United States in Lens on Saturday week. At least two English-based Frenchmen believe he ought to be redeployed there.

Philippe Saint-Andre, Sale's director of rugby and ex-France captain, who made Robinson his first-choice full back throughout the Cheshire club's Premiershipwinning season, said: 'I picked him there rather than on the wing so he could use his pace and trickery to counter-attack and be a free spirit. Against Wales, Jason only touched the ball three times. Maybe I'd do it differently but I'm not in Brian Ashton's shoes.

'You need continuity in the back three positions because timing and communication are so important. I played with Jean-Luc Sadourny and Serge Blanco 29 times for France in succession. I don't think England have played three games with the same back three.'

It last happened three seasons ago when Robinson played at full back, Mark Cueto on one wing and Ben Cohen on the other.

Over the course of their 10 matches this year, England have been unable, or unwilling, to pick the same combination more than once. Cueto's troubled night in Marseille 10 days ago did nothing to ease the full back issue, though Saint-Andre excused the Sale player on grounds of 'rustiness' after five months without a match.

Thomas Castaignede, unable to make a France squad with the power and self-discipline to take them to the final on October 20, confesses to being 'surprised' at Ashton preferring Cueto at full back 'when Robinson has the ability to surprise, the vision and the experience to be more effective'.

Typically, Woodward flew in the face of convention when he converted Robinson, now 33, into a full back against Australia at Twickenham in November 2001.

There was a massive furore,' recalled Sir Clive. People said he wasn't big enough, which Jason thought quite amusing because he could jump two feet higher than anyone else. I can't recall him dropping a single ball and he was the catalyst for our counter-attacks. If he is at his very best, I would not want to see him playing for the opposition.'