Woodward shrugged off the disappointment of the 2004 RBS 6 Nations, where his side finished third behind France and Ireland, to mark out a new challenge for his men.

No team have successfully defended the Webb Ellis trophy and the England coach said: It is going to be difficult but that is the challenge, thats what we are striving to do.

We now have to improve in almost everything we do.

Woodward admitted he had received offers to do other things since the World Cup and said: You get to the situation, like Martin Johnson, and say what do I do now?

But I love this job. It would have been easy to go and do motivational talks and maybe move on to another sport but I still think I am a young coach who can give something to improving this England team. When you have the passion for it you have to carry on."

Woodward received the Sport England coach of the year award for 2003 from chairman Patrick Carter and also collected the AIPS team trophy, awarded by the international sports writers on behalf of his World Cup winners.

Even though only a third of the countries whose writers voted play rugby, the England team still polled more then 50% more votes than AC Milan, the Champions League winners.

It's a fantastic award and a huge bonus, particularly as many of the 144 countries represented do not play rugby, said Sir Clive, who admitted actually winning the World Cup was not, for him, the overriding achievement.

I am probably more proud of arriving as the best-prepared team and the number one team in the world than actually winning it because that reflected what we had built over two, three and four years.

I'm most proud that the group of players, led by Martin Johnson, didn't leave anything to chance.

Woodward accepts the team of 2003 will be a hard act to follow but said: "We have only one percent of our mind on 2007. It's a long way off.

International rugby is about winning the next game and putting your strongest team out and we want to win in the game in Dunedin, he said as he looked forward to the summer tour to New Zealand and Australia.

He knows it will not be an easy challenge following the RBS 6 Nations in which England were beaten by both Ireland and France.

We were disappointed with what happened but it was pretty predictable, said Woodward.

He is determined to turn things around Down Under but said: It will be very tough. It's the end of a long season but we are looking forward to it.

The reason we won the World Cup is because we have relished going head to head with southern hemisphere teams."