Is Sir Clive Woodward about to defect from the British Olympic Association and scrum down again with his erstwhile chums at Twickers?

Just a couple of month ago the BOA chairman Lord Moynihan was  emphatic that Woodward would be staying put at the organisation's director of sport, such was the rugby man's conversion to Olympism.

"Clive has the Olympic bug and wants to focus fully on helping achieve British success in 2012," he assured us.

But now, according to the News of the World – and we must assume there has been no tapping of phone lines between Sir Clive and rugby's HQ - that may no longer be the case.

Indeed, it would seem that England's World Cup-winning coach is being so heavily courted for the about-to-be created post of elite director of rugby by the new regime in charge of the game that current manager Martin Johnson feels his own position insecure.

Woodward himself is making no comment - but one from Moynihan last night doesn't exactly suggest that his earlier confidence remains totally intact.

"We have an outstanding management team at the BOA and it is no surprise they are in demand," he said. "Clive is doing a great job in the run-up to the Olympic Games and will, I hope, stay with us. Reports about him returning to a role with the RFU are purely speculative."

Hmm. I wonder. Could it be that Sir Clive, who quit the RFU after differences with then chief executive Francis Baron seven years ago, is having belated withdrawal symptoms for the sport that is in his blood.

How strong is the temptation to return with his good friend John Steele, the personable former chief executive of UK Sport and one-time Northampton coach, now running the show?

Steele, who has implemented sweeping changes at Twickenham is a great Woodward fan, and may well be making him an offer he will find hard to refuse.

One also wonders whether Sir Clive now feels less than comfortable at the BOA following the embarrassing shenanigans surrounding the now resolved unseemly spat with London 2012. Although this did not involve him it is believed to have caused him some concern.

Woodward has always said he would not return to rugby and that if anything, once his BOA stint was completed after 2012, he might have a serious shot at football management, a game he briefly flirted with at Southampton.

However a salary of around half a million a year and assurance of a totallv free hand might well persuade him otherwise.

His BOA role, said to be worth £300,000 a year, has always been a controversial issue, UK Sport initially claiming it duplicated that of their own performance director Peter Keen.

Woodward weathered that particular storm but cannot have been enamoured that plans to expand his responsibilities at the BOA have had to be curtailed for economic reasons.

It was also expected that, with his high profile and media savvy, he would be the BOA's Chef de Mission both at the last Winter Games and in 2012. But instead incoming chief executive Andy Hunt, relatively inexperienced in top level sports administration, has donned the chef's hat with Woodward simply riding shotgun as a deputy.

There have also been critics within the BOA's constituent bodies. "He is certainly a prestigious name to have on board but what exactly does he do?" was a question posed by one leading administrator.

Yet there is do doubt that Woodward has been an effective mentor to a number of competitors, notably in contact sports. who speak highly of his motivational qualities – qualities which made him such an outstanding rugby coach.


There is also the thought that any return as England's rugby supremo might create as many problems as it solves.

For it is likely Woodward would insist on being in overall charge of team selection, with the authority to hire and fire coaching staff, something which Johnson, who was his captain in that World Cup triumph, would firmly resist.

Indeed, it is reported that before taking the England manager's job in 2008, Johnson consulted Woodward – who advised him against suggesting he should gain experience at club level first.

Additionally, there is the problem of his fractious relationship former elite director of rugby Rob Andrew, moved to operations director to make way for a Woodward-style figure in Steele's radical reshuffle. The pair have clashed in the past.

Whether these issues are resolvable could be the key to 55-year-old Woodward's decision, one which doubtless he will be mulling over alongside his wife Jayne in their Westminster Abbey pew during Friday's Royal Wedding where they are VIP guests.

If Woodward does pick up the oval ball again the biggest loser surely will be Moynihan, who staked a great deal, not least financially, when appointing him almost five years ago.

Of course Woodward's substantial salary would be a timely saving for the cash-strapped BOA at this stage of the game, but the question is whether they can really afford to lose him.

Whatever happens, Woodward will work out his game plan carefully. He was never one to get his Twickers in a twist.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire