Sir Clive Woodward: Southern hemisphere sides will fear England

Sir Clive Woodward believes the top seeds will want to avoid England in the 2015 World Cup draw after the Red Rose’s 38-21 victory over defending champions New Zealand on Saturday.

Stuart Lancaster’s men are in the second tier of seeds along with Argentina, Ireland and Samoa, while Wales drop into the third tier with Scotland, Italy and Tonga.

England made amends for successive defeats by Australia and South Africa with an impressive display against the All Blacks to end the world champions’ 20-game unbeaten streak.

And Woodward, who masterminded England’s World Cup success in 2003, believes top seeds – Australia, France, South Africa and New Zealand – will all want to avoid the Red Rose in the Pool stage when the draw is made on Monday.

“It makes the draw fascinating,” Woordward told BBC’s Sportsweek.

“The three southern hemisphere sides will not want to draw England.”

He added: “It was a great, great victory for England. It was a David v Goliath effort. They got stuck into New Zealand and they were rattled.

“It sets up the Six Nations. England now need to get their mindset right. Can you go to Wales and Ireland and win?

“Scotland are not bad. Every game is a banana skin.”