March 15 - Sir Clive Woodward (pictured) will not be leaving his £300,000 per year role with British Olympic Association (BOA) to help coach England's rugby team, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) have insisted today.

 

Sir Clive, who coached England to victory in the 2003 World Cup, has been regularly linked with a return to the international set-up, with the calls led by former captain Lawrence Dallaglio.

 

England have slipped to their lowest-ever world ranking of eighth since Sir Clive left in 2004 and won only one of their three Six Nations matches so far this season.

 

Sir Clive, now the director elite performance at the BOA, has been regularly seen at England's matches.

 

But Rob Andrew, head of elite performance at the RFU, has claimed that they will not be approaching Sir Clive replace the current manager Martin Johnson.

 

Johnson (pictured) was Sir Clive's captain when they lifted the World Cup trophy in Australia six years ago and Andrew has claimed that he was the main influence in the side.

 

He said: "We've got to let Martin get on and build a team in his own image.

 

"I think when you look back Martin was probably the one that was actually keeping Clive in check when he was captain of the side.

 

"I think he was the one that really put a lot of the stuff in place.

 

"People talk about Clive mentoring Martin, but sometimes during Clive's reign it was actually Martin mentoring Clive.

 

"Martin knows exactly what he wants to do.

 

"He has made massive strides in six months.

 

"We always knew it was going to be a difficult task.

 

"We want to rebuild, and Martin is the guy to do that.

 

"One of the reasons Martin was put in place was to get some direction and leadership and get a winning mentality back into English rugby.

 

"There is plenty of coaching experience in Martin's team.

 

"He is managing that team, putting his own spin on things - which is exactly what we want."