{"id":247037,"date":"2025-07-08T04:10:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T04:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/247037\/"},"modified":"2025-07-08T04:10:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T04:10:09","slug":"sir-clive-woodward-claimed-fly-half-could-be-better-than-wilkinson-he-made-his-debut-aged-19-page-3-of-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/247037\/","title":{"rendered":"Sir Clive Woodward claimed fly-half could be better than Wilkinson &#8211; he made his debut aged 19 &#8211; Page 3 of 3"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>#<strong>4.<\/strong> <strong>Ollie Smith<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Position<\/strong>: Centre<\/li>\n<li><strong>Total caps:<\/strong> 5<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Woodward tipped the centre to be a global superstar towards the end of his England reign. Although he was initially ignored by Andy Robinson, Smith came into the reckoning for the 2005 Six Nations and was named as part of an enlarged British and Irish Lions squad in 2005.<\/p>\n<p>However, Smith struggled to nail down a regular spot in England squads and he left Leicester Tigers in 2008 after a loss of form. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"473\" data-attachment-id=\"99498\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.ruck.co.uk\/where-are-they-now-5-english-wonderkids-who-never-reached-their-potential\/cornish-pirates-v-leicester-tigers-040807\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.ruck.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2229533.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"800,473\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;4&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Alan Williams\\\/Pinnacle&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS-1D Mark III&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;TIGERS OLLIE SMITH GETS THE TRY  - Photo mandatory by-line: Alan Williams\\\/Pinnacle - Tel: +44(0)1363 881025 - Mobile:0797 1270 681 - VAT Reg No: 768 6958 48 - 04\\\/08\\\/2007 - SPORT - RUGBY UNION  - Pre-Season Friendly - CORNISH PIRATES V LEICESTER TIGERS - Camborne Recreation Ground, Camborne, Cornwall&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1186330673&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;PINNACLE PHOTOGRAPHY LTD- PHOTO AGENCY UK&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;400&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;400&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.000625&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Cornish Pirates v Leicester Tigers 040807&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Cornish Pirates v Leicester Tigers 040807\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;TIGERS OLLIE SMITH GETS THE TRY  \u2013 Photo mandatory by-line: Alan Williams\/Pinnacle \u2013 Tel: +44(0)1363 881025 \u2013 Mobile:0797 1270 681 \u2013 VAT Reg No: 768 6958 48 \u2013 04\/08\/2007 \u2013 SPORT \u2013 RUGBY UNION  \u2013 Pre-Season Friendly \u2013 CORNISH PIRATES V LEICESTER TIGERS \u2013 Camborne Recreation Ground, Camborne, Cornwall&lt;\/p&gt;&#10;\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.ruck.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2229533-300x177.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.ruck.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2229533.jpg\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99498\" data-lazy- data-lazy- data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2229533.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>#<strong>5.<\/strong> <strong>Will Green<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Position<\/strong>: Prop<\/li>\n<li><strong>Total caps:<\/strong> 4<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Green had previously played for various England youth teams alongside the likes of\u00a0Will Greenwood,\u00a0Matt Dawson,\u00a0Simon Shaw\u00a0and\u00a0Richard Hill.<\/p>\n<p>After making his England debut against Australia in November 1997, Green went on to make 4 appearances for the national team. He was considered an outside candidate to be part of Clive Woodward\u2019s ultimately victorious\u00a02003 Rugby World Cup\u00a0winning squad.<\/p>\n<p>However, he was overlooked in the end, despite getting his 4th and final cap against Wales in one of England\u2019s warm up games prior to the World Cup,\u00a0and being in the wider 43-man squad.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Can you name every England Rugby captain of the professional era?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Whether it\u2019s the grit of Will Carling in the 90s, the tactical brilliance of Martin Johnson, or the fearless leadership of Owen Farrell, this quiz will challenge even the most dedicated fans.<\/p>\n<p>Think you can name them all? Grab your boots and let\u2019s see how well you know the men who led England into battle on the world stage!<\/p>\n<p>Like this:<\/p>\n<p>Like Loading&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"sd-link-color\"\/>\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"#4. Ollie Smith Position: Centre Total caps: 5 Woodward tipped the centre to be a global superstar towards&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-247037","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114815659578701472","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}