CLIVE WOODWARD soaked up the astounding scenes of celebration in London's West End with obvious enjoyment but as soon as the victory parade for England's World Cup triumph was over the team's guiding force was already consigning the day to the history books.
Woodward believes professional sport is "a brutal business" and there was an implicit warning in his words that if any member of the England playing or coaching staff shows signs of resting on their laurels, he will find himself out of a job.
As for Woodward himself, he said simply: "This experience has if anything made me feel more determined to repeat the feat again."
The open-top bus tour through the centre of London was watched by hundreds of thousands of cheering supporters. The Metropolitan Police estimated 750,000 had turned out - an attendance unprecedented in British rugby.
Woodward said: "For me, once January 1 comes the World Cup final will be history and we have to move on.
"We are there to give this group of players every chance of being successful, and they are perhaps the most experienced group of players in international rugby but we won't stand still, and the coaching team won't stand still either.
"I fully intend to bring in new people into the coaching team.
"It's a brutal business but I'm very clear that if we take our foot off the pedal there will be changes - and that would include myself."
