Carling wrong about Woodward

WILL CARLING took a huge bite of humble pie yesterday when he admitted he was wrong to have called for the head of England coach Clive Woodward.

England's former Grand Slam captain had been Woodward's most vociferous critic, claiming the coach had taken the team as far as he could after the World Cup quarter-final defeat against South Africa four years ago.

But now Carling has tipped them to return with the William Webb Ellis Trophy and insisted there would be no-one more delighted than himself to see Woodward do so.

"I am delighted they didn't get rid of him," said Carling, "... that would have been a mistake.

"Clive had said 'judge me on the World Cup' and when we went out in the quarter-final my judgment was that wasn't good enough.

"I think the improvement since then has been massive. He's far wiser than me and probably knew it would come right in the last year and it has."

The former England centre, who appeared in two World Cups, admitted he would never have got near selection in Woodward's current side and believes only Jeremy Guscott of the 1995 World Cup team would have merited inclusion.