{"id":469100,"date":"2026-05-05T06:31:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T06:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/469100\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T06:31:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T06:31:17","slug":"clive-woodward-calls-out-one-defining-difference-that-hindered-bath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/469100\/","title":{"rendered":"Clive Woodward calls out \u2018one defining difference\u2019 that hindered Bath"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ex-England boss Clive Woodward has run the rule over Bath\u2019s Investec Champions Cup exit, claiming the prime reason for their loss is a weakness that extends to Steve Borthwick\u2019s Test side.<\/strong><\/p>\n

No English club has won the Champions Cup<\/a> since Exeter\u2019s pandemic era victory in 2020 and with Bath losing out to Bordeaux in this year\u2019s semi-finals, it means that just one PREM club \u2013 Northampton in 2025 \u2013 has appeared in the final in six years.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 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<\/a> team triumphs in Europe\u2019s top-tier event in five years.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, at Test level, England<\/a> 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<\/a> column.<\/p>\n

\u201cClear evidence\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

While hugely complimentary about the effort Bath put in on Sunday in a \u201cphenomenal game\u201d they lost 38-26<\/a>, he called out the gap that exists between English and French rugby and suggested that PREM Rugby and RFU officials should make it their \u201cbiggest priority\u201d to stop it from widening.<\/p>\n

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: \u201cIt is clear evidence to me that English rugby \u2013 both internationally and domestically \u2013 has work to do before it can compete for silverware\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThat must be a big concern to those running English rugby because it shows we\u2019re still behind Europe\u2019s leading nations \u2013 France and Ireland\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Bath showed, the gap isn\u2019t huge. It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s hot and who\u2019s not: Bordeaux \u2018gladden the heart\u2019, \u2018kudos\u2019 for criticised Leinster, French TV \u2018antics\u2019 and \u2018weak-tackling mavericks\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Investec Champions Cup Team of the Week: \u2018Most influential individual\u2019 of the semi-finals as Bordeaux dominate with monumental \u2018behemoth\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Going on to praise the display produced by Van Graan\u2019s Bath in a semi-final, Woodward claimed he made him wish he could have watched from the coaches\u2019 box in Bordeaux instead of on TV. However, he then spelled out the bruising difference between winning and losing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I could point to one defining difference between the teams, it was that Bordeaux had an extra level of physicality that Bath\u2019s players could not match.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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 \u2013 which the Bordeaux-Bath game was by the way \u2013 that makes a big difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cBordeaux\u2019s power is obvious through their giant forwards \u2013 the likes of Cameron Woki, who was outstanding, and the enormous Tongan prop Ben Tameifuna who came off the bench.<\/p>\n

Law discussion: How much influence do TV directors have on the modern TMO<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Brian O\u2019Driscoll SLAMS \u2018farcical\u2019 French TV while Austin Healey gives \u2018robbed\u2019 verdict after controversial Champions Cup semi-final<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBut their physicality was best shown by the power in the carry displayed by their backs. Bordeaux\u2019s leading French internationals behind the scrum \u2013 Maxime Lucu, Matthieu Jalibert, Yoram Moefana and Damian Penaud \u2013 are not big men by modern international standards.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they are fast, incredibly skilful and crikey they are tough! They fly into tackles when defence is needed and all had brilliant games,\u201d he continued, adding that he would be surprised if Leinster stop the French club from winning back-to-back European titles.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the players but, to a man, they have to find that physical edge that currently leaves them slightly behind the top international teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan 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\u2026 Perfection is the level you need to hit to be able to beat French teams these days, especially in their own backyard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as\u00a0a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Ex-France and England regulars named in Fiji\u2019s star-studded Nations Championship squad<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ex-England boss Clive Woodward has run the rule over Bath\u2019s Investec Champions Cup exit, claiming the prime reason…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[114567,9,10,205862,18,4507,13,14,6,794,19,34943,119382,17,11,12,15,16,5,18144,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-469100","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-bath","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-clive-woodward","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-featured-news","15":"tag-featurednews","16":"tag-headlines","17":"tag-home-page","18":"tag-ie","19":"tag-internationals","20":"tag-investec-champions-cup","21":"tag-ireland","22":"tag-latest-news","23":"tag-latestnews","24":"tag-main-news","25":"tag-mainnews","26":"tag-news","27":"tag-premiership","28":"tag-top-stories","29":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116520569063900522","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}