Rugby : English rugby hails a new golden era as Woodward returns !!!!!

Sir Clive Woodward's return to the anchor role in English rugby, which now seems guaranteed, could usher in a golden era — it would be his second.

The sport will reach a new height in 2015 when the World Cup comes home to England and if Woodward's vision and energy can span the years, England will be the favourites.

To guide a team to achieve it once and reverse rugby's history by dominating the southern hemisphere was a fantastic achievement.

For Woodward to pilot England to another world title after eight years and a catastrophic dip in England performance, would be beyond belief.

There is a theory that rugby these days moves so quickly that anyone away for a week, let alone eight years, would be way out of touch but Woodward does not conform to the supposed norms.

His work at the British Olympic Association and his solid daily contacts with rugby and its major figures will probably only refresh his visions and improve his effectiveness. He will still drive the search for the extra points that snatch glory from narrow defeat.

And yet whatever the results on the field, rugby with Woodward back on board will become vivid again. Say what you like about Martin Johnson and his Leicester-based hierarchy, Woodward as performance director would come in above them. My view is that Johnson has improved markedly as team manager but that the team is still not remotely as good as many would love to believe.

Johnson's England are simply not vivid. Woodward, partly for his wilder theories, but also for his boldness, his facility with the media and his relentless driving, is splendid box office. He would galvanise the whole rugby scene and just to have him back would add spice to every international.

The comeback, when it is sealed, would be good news emerging from the sorry mess that the Rugby Football Union have almost made of filling their most important post. Twickenham red tape and petty jealousies have grievously hampered the affair as the new incumbent of the post was meant to be announced weeks ago.

However, when chief executive John Steele sifted applications there were none. Contenders for such an elevated job are few and far between in any case and the few with the necessary stature — Eddie Jones, Jake White, Nick Mallett — withdrew in the expectation that Woodward would storm home.

But Steele had promised a "comprehensive and intensive selection process" and was unwilling simply to give the green light for an approach to Woodward because he felt that proper procedures and the creation of a shortlist were appropriate — though some might find it ludicrous that somewhere out there is a rugby super-heavyweight nobody has yet thought of.