Sir Clive Woodward names the 'incredible' wasted talent who should be England legend

During his tenure as Head Coach England moved from 6th in the world to being the number one ranked team, winning every trophy an England team can win.

Woodward coached some of rugby's all-time greats with England and the Lions, but ranks the controversial number 10 above most.

The fly-half had a chance to break into the England first team under Martin Johnson in the late naughties but Cipriani explained he struggled to bridge the gap between Premiership and International rugby.

“On talent and skill, Cipriani should have been in the team the last ten years,” said Woodward. “He was the person to come in and take over from [Jonny] Wilkinson, he was the man ready to go.

"He is the only English number 10 of the past 20 years who, if I’d been coach and he had been up for selection at the same time as Jonny, could have caused big selection headaches,

“His skill-set was so complete. He posed an attacking threat with ball in hand and has a superb kicking game and world-class distribution.

"I think Wilkinson would have got the nod over him in the end but the fact I even mention them in the same breath shows how highly I rate Cipriani.

“He just seemed to be a person where coaches didn’t want to talk to [him], and he was the guy you’d want to be absolutely close to and almost build the team around him."

DID YOU KNOW? Woodward's playing career began with Harlequins in 1974 before switching to Leicester in 1979 following a spell at Loughborough University

Woodward wrote: "In the Grand Slam game in 2003, we worked on a plan to man-mark him with three players, so the tackler was not exposed by O'Driscoll's footwork and pace in a one-on-one situation.

"That's how big a threat we believed he was - he needed three men to handle him. Ireland were going for a Grand Slam, but none of the players around Brian were in the same league.

"Whenever he had the ball we wanted one player opposite him and one man either side - it would usually be Wilkinson, Will Greenwood and Mike Tindall."

"He took rugby to a whole new level," said Woodward.

"There's very rarely one player who dominates a whole World Cup and he certainly did."

"Jonny was special and he scared the opposition. Everyone has to pat him on the back."

"The way he defended and attacked, he was a very special player," added Woodward, who handed Wilkinson his England debut in 1998.

"All of us involved in that team [in 2003] just felt very lucky and privileged to have had him around at that time.

"He would have taken the decision to retire very seriously but he will still be playing for Toulon, and he has been playing very well for Toulon.

"I'd just like to say well done to him. He has done so much for not just English rugby but also world rugby on the field, and especially off the field."

e said: "The greatest talent I played against was Gareth Edwards. He was in his last season and I was in my first.

"His talent was undiminished and he had a great aura. His banter with his old Lions mate Bob Hiller was also priceless. As a coach, it is Jason Robinson.

"He was a sponge and soaked up every single rugby union skill. By the end he was probably the best kicker out of hand we had, he laid the ball back at rucks perfectly and his tackle technique was perfect. What a player."