Ex-England boss Clive Woodward has run the rule over Bath’s Investec Champions Cup exit, claiming the prime reason for their loss is a weakness that extends to Steve Borthwick’s Test side.
No English club has won the Champions Cup since Exeter’s pandemic era victory in 2020 and with Bath losing out to Bordeaux in this year’s semi-finals, it means that just one PREM club – Northampton in 2025 – has appeared in the final in six years.
It’s a worrying statistic given that English clubs enjoyed a period of dominance before that with Saracens crowned champions in 2016, 2017 and 2019 before Exeter got in on the title-winning act to make it four PREM team triumphs in Europe’s top-tier event in five years.
Meanwhile, at Test level, England have lost four of their last five Six Nations encounters with France, highlighting that a gap really does exist at club and country level. This is something that Woodward had now discussed in his latest Sportsmail column.
“Clear evidence…”
While hugely complimentary about the effort Bath put in on Sunday in a “phenomenal game” they lost 38-26, he called out the gap that exists between English and French rugby and suggested that PREM Rugby and RFU officials should make it their “biggest priority” to stop it from widening.
Reflecting on the results that left England trailing in fifth place in the recent Six Nations and the PREM with no representation in either the Champions or Challenge Cup finals later this month in Bilbao, the 2003 Rugby World Cup winning coach wrote: “It is clear evidence to me that English rugby – both internationally and domestically – has work to do before it can compete for silverware…
“That must be a big concern to those running English rugby because it shows we’re still behind Europe’s leading nations – France and Ireland…
“As Bath showed, the gap isn’t huge. It’s not like English club teams are miles off competing with the best on the continent, which is what Bordeaux are currently. Further evidence of that came in the finale to the Six Nations, when England pushed France all the way only to lose narrowly and heartbreakingly at the death.
“How English teams can make up the ground on those from over the Channel should be the biggest priority for the powers that be running both the PREM and the RFU.”
Going on to praise the display produced by Van Graan’s Bath in a semi-final, Woodward claimed he made him wish he could have watched from the coaches’ box in Bordeaux instead of on TV. However, he then spelled out the bruising difference between winning and losing.
“If I could point to one defining difference between the teams, it was that Bordeaux had an extra level of physicality that Bath’s players could not match.
“The French, as they have shown by winning the past two Six Nations, have a tough edge. They more often than not win the contact area and at the highest level – which the Bordeaux-Bath game was by the way – that makes a big difference.
“Bordeaux’s power is obvious through their giant forwards – the likes of Cameron Woki, who was outstanding, and the enormous Tongan prop Ben Tameifuna who came off the bench.
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“But their physicality was best shown by the power in the carry displayed by their backs. Bordeaux’s leading French internationals behind the scrum – Maxime Lucu, Matthieu Jalibert, Yoram Moefana and Damian Penaud – are not big men by modern international standards.
“But they are fast, incredibly skilful and crikey they are tough! They fly into tackles when defence is needed and all had brilliant games,” he continued, adding that he would be surprised if Leinster stop the French club from winning back-to-back European titles.
As is ever the case with Woodward, he is a solutions person and not just a critic. He concluded by offering his opinion on what needed to happen for England and its clubs to compete at the highest level and win.
“We have the players but, to a man, they have to find that physical edge that currently leaves them slightly behind the top international teams.
“Can this be fixed? Yes. And it has to be! But to do so, English teams have to ramp up their physicality with the crucial point being that it simply cannot slip off at any point across 80 minutes… Perfection is the level you need to hit to be able to beat French teams these days, especially in their own backyard.”
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