‘I think of my medal as the start of the end’
Trevor Woodman tells Charlie Morgan how his career was wrecked after the 2003 World Cup
As another anniversary of England’s sole Rugby World Cup triumph arrives, do not expect Trevor Woodman to bask in reflected glory. The phlegmatic 42-year-old was wearing No1 as Martin Johnson lifted the Webb Ellis Cup 15 years ago. But Woodman does not seem prone to self-indulgent strolls down memory lane. At home, artefacts from that famous night are out of sight and out of mind.
“I don’t have my shirt on the wall, I don’t have my medal on display,” he says. “If you walked into my house, you wouldn’t know I represented my country.
“I haven’t really worked out why … it’s a good question. I am privileged and proud of what I achieved. In my mind, maybe sometimes I look at them and think of it as the start of the end.”
Woodman was 27 in 2003. Despite making his debut four years previously, a string of injuries meant he had travelled to Australia for the tournament with a mere 10 caps. Yet the mobile, skilful loosehead prop would usurp veteran Jason Leonard to spearhead England’s grizzled pack, with fellow Cornishman and Gloucester colleague Phil Vickery at tighthead.
However, the period either side of November 2003 would reinforce how quickly and violently fortunes can change. Woodman almost went home during the group stage due to a neck injury and came home to political upheaval and awkward contract negotiations with Gloucester.
In the summer of 2004, after what would be his final England match in New Zealand, Woodman moved to Sale, but a back problem limited his involvement and forced him to retire a year later. He was not yet 30.
“Within 12 months of winning the World Cup, a massive high, there was the massive low of, ‘I’m struggling to get out of bed, not being able to walk for more than 15 minutes without massive pain going down my legs. This is obviously the end’.
“I carried the disappointment around with me a lot longer than I should have. I beat myself up a bit about not achieving necessarily what I thought I could have. If anyone asks me now how many caps I got, my response is always ‘only 22’. In my mind, I wanted 50 or 60 and to be in that England squad for a long time.”
Ironically, three years in Australia helped Woodman to ease the kind of numbing identity crisis that so often afflicts former athletes. He thrived in a coaching role with Sydney University and was eventually recruited by the