More prepared than even Baden Powell

Profile - Team England: Woodward's warriors have worked to earn the world's respect. Nick Townsend hears nothing is left to chance in pursuit of the biggest prize

The England party landed in Perth, the capital of Western Australia, in the early hours of Friday morning, Hackett suits uncrumpled, the hulking frames of certain individuals untroubled by stiffened muscles, appetites well sated and their sleep patterns relatively unscrambled by a 22-hour flight. Not "steerage" then. From the moment the nation's rugby ambassadors stepped into the comfort and privacy of Club World on board flight BA15 from Heathrow, the 30-strong squad entered Clive Woodward's realm of meticulous preparation, one which Jason Leonard has described as "a no-excuses environment".

If England fail to return with the Rugby World Cup at this, a fifth attempt, it will not be by dint of indifferent planning or a schedule that did not permit his players to perform at their optimum. Woodward is simply not a "leaves on the track", "wrong kind of snow" sort of guy.

The England head coach may improvise tactically within games, but his overall strategy replicates that of Baden Powell: Be Prepared. If Woodward learnt Latin at school, he clearly never understood the meaning of ad hoc. He and his lieutenants have a distinct antipathy towards nasty surprises, even on a most mundane level.

Phil Larder, England's defence coach, relates how, after England's "warm-up" victories against New Zealand and Australia, in Wellington and Melbourne in June, the party stayed down under for two or three days. "All the players were itching to get back to England to see their wives and families, but we travelled to Perth, so that they could get used to the hotel. We used the training pitch that we're going to use. We walked into the stadium at the same time that we'll be entering the stadium before we play Georgia [England's first opponents, next Sunday]. The players had a look at where they'll be sitting in the dressing room. They even went out on to the pitch at the exact same time that the game will kick off. That's attention to detail."

Even the location where we meet just before the party depart on Thursday, the prestigious Pennyhill Park Hotel in Bagshot, Surrey, has been transformed into every England player's second home and office. A pitch has been laid, a fitness centre constructed, and the players have their own changing room. It is said that the Rugby Football Union's investment to maintain the England team in the circumstances that Woodward demands before and during the 2003 World Cup is around £9m, a sum that would pay the expenses of six smaller teams taking part.

Larder adds: "I've never been involved in anything, sport or outside sport, where every aspect has been looked at in so much detail. But then if you look at Clive's background, he comes into this from being a very successful businessman. Andy Robinson, myself, Dave Alred, and a lot of other guys are from a Phys Ed [Physical Education] background. Clive comes to the problems from a slightly different angle."

Larder is one of a number of trusted assistants Woodward has appointed since he succeeded Jack Rowell in 1997. Apart from his No 2, Andy Robinson, and Larder, Woodward's team includes kicking coach Dave Alred, a former league and union player who also played American football, and line-out expert Simon Hardy. There is also a support team who include a fitness coach, masseur, psychologist and dietician.

Crucial to England's performances will be the hours Robinson and Larder have spent analysing the opposition. "I'd be disappointed if any of the opposition coaches went into any more detail," explains the latter. "We do a hell of a lot of homework."

Larder, 58, began his career as a PE teacher, and played union before joining Oldham rugby league club as a semi-professional. He coached Widnes, Keighley and Sheffield before becoming England coach. He was also assistant coach of Great Britain for seven years. "I had the foresight to realise that horizons within union, particularly at international level, were far greater than in league, where the programme is so limited - and Australia are so bloody strong."

He adds: "My turning point was watching the 1997 Lions tour of South Africa. I realised what an awesome product international rugby union was. I envisaged it getting much bigger, which it has. I sent a telegram to Fran Cotton, who was manager, saying: 'Delighted with your performance in the First Test; all the best in the second. PS: I think you're defending exceptionally well'."

Through that initial contact, Cotton, who was to become deputy chairman of playing at the RFU, became the intermediary in Woodward approaching Larder. "I assist Clive in the preparation of the team, and he listens to me and Robbo [Andy Robinson] quite avidly when it comes to selection," Larder says. "We select a team between us, but then Clive goes off and sleeps on it and sometimes alters it. That's his prerogative.

"Ultimately, it's his team. It's his neck that's on the chopping block. However, I'm wholly responsible for the defence once it's been selected."

Few would dispute that Larder's contribution has been highly significant following the 1998 "Tour of Hell" and the 1999 World Cup, which concluded so ignominiously for England that there were demands in certain quarters for the axe to sever Woodward's head.

"Until I got involved, the players didn't do any defensive preparation at all. It was all set-piece and attack. So, it's no surprise they've improved," reflects Larder. "But it's not down to me, it's down to the players; they've bought in to what I've been preaching and been converted. When they go out on that pitch now, they defend with their lives."

He adds: "In the dressing room, before a big match, any player can look round at everyone in the dressing room and think, 'I know I can trust all those guys 100 per cent'. But he also knows that the others are putting their trust him as well. We have flair players, of course, but they're still expected to work their bollocks off. You look at players like Jason Robinson, Josh Lewsey and Jonny Wilkinson." He pauses for effect, before growling: "They can tackle. They can defend."

Larder's philosophy regarding his particular domain is elementary. "A lot of rugby union teams go out to stop the opposition scoring; we go out to win the ball. We play within the rules, but we play on the edge of them. We're as aggressive as we can be. You can really stamp your authority with a legitimate tackle."

Larder looks you hard in the eyes as he emphasises the point. "Say you were running with the ball and Jonny Wilkinson put a proper Jonny Wilkinson-type hit on you, it would hurt you far more than if he took a jab at you illegally."

He adds grimly: "Certainly, our guys enjoy the aggressive side of the sport; they wouldn't be in the squad if they didn't. Yes, they can look after themselves."

It would be fair to submit that Woodward's men will not be regarded with total affection down under. The former All Blacks fly-half Andrew Mehrtens has depicted England as "pricks to lose to", while the French are not enamoured by what they perceive as England's hauteur.

Larder himself will not be easily forgotten by a hostile French crowd at Marseilles back in August. He was the character who, in the preliminaries of the game that France won, stood in the route of the marching band and forced it to deviate from its planned passage. He then followed it, marching in time.

One suspects that, on this the greatest stage, Larder will be rather more focused on ensuring that his players are reminded of their defensive responsibilities, strategies that originate from American football. "When the Australian rugby league team came over in 1982, we called them 'The Invincibles' because of their awesome reputation," he says.

"For the first time we saw defensive organisation. I found that their coaches had been over to the USA and studied American football and adapted their methods. So, I went to the US myself and stayed with the Los Angeles Rams for a month, brought ideas back, went round to other professional coaches and that's how it pitched up in league."

Larder, who will be joined in Australia by his wife, Anne, and younger son, David, who plays professional rugby league for Rochdale Hornets, is rather more forthcoming than Woodward when asked for his forecast. "I can't see beyond New Zealand, Australia, France and ourselves winning it," he says. "But I still think there will be upsets. Argentina and Italy could cause problems, and South Africa."

Preferably not any upsets involving his men, though. The one thing Woodward and company have not prepared for is to be included in a post-mortem entitled "World Cup Tales of the Unexpected".

The back row

Clive Woodward MBE: head coach. Age 47. Coached Manly, Henley, London Irish, Bath, England since 1997.

Andy Robinson: assistant coach and Woodward's No 2. Age 39. Coached Bath, England since 2000, Lions.

Phil Larder: assistant coach, specialising in defence. Age 58.

Dave Alred: assistant coach, kicking specialist. Age 57.

Simon Hardy: line-out coach.

Phil Keith-Roach: scrummaging coach.

Dave Reddin: fitness coach

Dr Simon Kemp: team doctor.

Barney Kenny, Phil Pask: physios.

Louise Ramsay MBE: team manager.

Richard Wegrzyk: masseur.

Sherylle Calder: visual awareness.