White Gold: England's Journey to Rugby World Cup Glory

White Gold is a study of how and why England, the biggest and wealthiest rugby country on the planet, had never dominated the game it invented on a global scale – until Clive Woodward took charge from 1997 to 2004. It’s a study of his influences and how he turned the way the England team was run, and the way they played, on its head, and it examines how they won despite a domestic structure in England that is counter-intuitive to the success of the international team.
The story also examines the aftermath of the World Cup victory, from the collapse of the team’s fortunes, to the disintegration in the relationship between Woodward and the RFU which led to his resignation, to his disastrous reign as head coach of the 2005 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand and his unsuccessful period at Southampton football club, before the rehabilitation of his reputation as director of sport of the BOA which culminated in the huge success of the London 2012 Olympics. It is a portrait that has never before been painted of the 2003 World Cup campaign and reveals new insights into the fascinating journey that Woodward and his team enjoyed.

Peter Burns is the sports editor for Birlinn Ltd. He is the coauthor of Behind the Thistle: Playing Rugby for Scotland.