England Scotland and Wales play their first matches on 12 October

England, Scotland and Wales play their first matches on 12 October.The fraud was running by the end of last year at a call centre run by an office service company in Wokingham, Berkshire. They offered a £2,000 deal for adults, £1,500 for children under 16 and a family package for £6,500. Up to 25,000 England supporters alone are likely to travel to the World Cup. Overseas sellers are thought to have been alerted to the deals through the online auction website eBay, where dozens of tickets are on offer.The advertisements first appeared last November, offering packages with tickets for all of the matches to be staged in Sydney. The company was not in existence long enough to lodge accounts at Companies House. None of the money has so far been traced and the company, The Rugby World Cup 2003 (UK) Ltd, has been wound up leaving many with the prospect of losing all of their money, particularly those who paid by cheque.”We certainly have some documentation but not a significant amount,” said Detective Constable Steve Ball of Thames Valley Police.

Fans sent money for packages for next month’s tournament in Australia in response to newspaper and internet advertisements but received nothing.
Buyers from Australia, South Africa, Nigeria, the US and Switzerland were among those duped by the operation along with British fans, police said yesterday. Rugby followers from around the world have been cheated out of hundreds of thousands of pounds in a World Cup tickets fraud. Maybe it needs someone else to come in to turn such a talented side into world beaters.” Will Carling after England lost to France in the 2002 Six Nations “I am delighted they didn’t get rid of him. They’re the best England side we have ever had.” Carling on the eve of the World Cup.David Coltman. Woodward is rewarded with a new contract to the end of the 2007 World Cup. Successive defeats of all three Tri-Nations sides on consecutive weekends in autumn puts England top of world rankings. In 2003, Woodward finally wins a Grand Slam, defeating Ireland 42-5 in a decider in Dublin.

In 1999, England lose to Wales in the final match of the Five Nations, gifting Scotland the championship. In 2000 and 2001, Scotland and Ireland respectively beat England in the final matches of the Six Nations, denying Woodward a Grand Slam. When coach at Henley, he won three promotions in as many years.International: In 1997, appointed as the first full-time coach of the England team. What we have is a massive amount of trust on both sides.” And from our side, I say, massive expectation. “Yes, but nobody can load any greater pressure on us than we load on ourselves.” And with that, I am politely but speedily shown the door, outside of which the next interviewer hovers, wondering what he can get out of Woodward in 15 minutes flat. in fact if they’re staying in a hotel across the street it doesn’t make sense.” And what of eve-of-match nookie? “I don’t watch what they do together so I don’t know.”If there was definitely a performance-related reason to have a discussion then we would, but I’ve not been shown any evidence one way or the other I trust them, that’s the bottom line. These are mature people who need to get back to a place that’s theirs.

But I would expect the wives and girlfriends to stay with them like they normally do I’ve no wish to change that … “All the guys have their own rooms, that’s something I insist on. If the players come to us saying they fancy doing this or that, then fine, we’ll probably fix it up. But we’re here to get them absolutely prepared to win a game of rugby, and that’s what they want. They’re very conscious that we would rather they were lying on their beds resting than going 10-pin bowling. My job is to create an environment that everyone can be a part of, which is an easy statement to make but actually quite difficult to achieve. “When I first started in the job I encouraged 10-pin bowling and things, but now I know I don’t need to do that You can get carried away.