Healey calls for England coaching cleanout

Former Lions tourist Austin Healey has laid the blame for their New Zealand tour failure squarely on the England coaching influence, saying they are all "Clive Woodward clones".

Healey, who toured Australia with the Lions in 2001, wrote in the Observer newspaper that the Lions looked "a tired team playing to tired coaching instructions".

He singled out Lions assistant and current England coach Andy Robinson, defensive coach Phil Larder and fitness trainer Dave Reddin who he said should all "pack up their boots and clipboards and take up a job in the tax office".

Otherwise there was sympathy for Woodward in the British media.

Former Welsh international Eddie Butler said the All Blacks would have won the series regardless of Lions tactical blunders and massive injury toll.

"The All Blacks looked at rugby after 2003 and decided to move forward.

"The Lions played a rugby that was two years out of date. And it was cruelly exposed," Butler wrote in the Observer.

Former England lock Paul Ackford, writing in the Telegraph, said: "Woodward's good days were among the best England have ever had in sport.

"Whatever has happened on this Lions tour, Woodward's reputation as a visionary and as a man who was able to create a culture of excellence remains intact."

- NZPA