WHILE plenty of England players have seen their stock plummet in the last month, one man has emerged from the fall-out of this year's Six Nations Championship with his reputation enhanced.

When Sir Clive Woodward resigned from his role as England coach last September, his parting shot was an angry broadside aimed at the club directors he felt were hindering the development of the national side.

Frustrated at being unable to gather his players together for the training days he felt were essential in England's rebuilding programme, the World Cup winner warned of tough times ahead if the club's did not release their stranglehold on the English game.

"Control of the players is everything," blasted Woodward. "And you can't control them through directors of rugby. It's like trying to run a business without a workforce.

"You end up with a compromise agreement and you don't win World Cups by compromising. There is no point the RFU putting in a world-class coaching team if you don't have the players to work with."

The clubs' response was at best unsympathetic and, at worst, utterly uncooperative.

Unwilling to concede more ground in an unseemly tug-of-war over their players, the members of the Zurich Premiership closed ranks and insisted on putting their own interests before that of the national side.

So, in the run-up to the Six Nations, new boss Andy Robinson was forced to watch on in disbelief as key members of his starting XV broke down with long-term injuries that ruled them out of the whole of the competition.

And it didn't end there. Last weekend, with England still smarting from defeats against Wales and France, Phil Vickery broke a wrist while on club duty against Bath and Lewis Moody made a meaningless substitute appearance for Leicester and suffered a poisoned finger as a result.

The contrast with both Ireland and Wales is marked. In both of those countries, the national squad came together weeks before the start of the championship for a series of training camps and players are banned from appearing in Celtic League fixtures between games unless the national coach decides otherwise.

Yet Premiership clubs insist on flogging players who are coming apart at the seams from the twin demands of a competitive club scene and an unforgiving international arena.

They claim they have an agreement with the RFU that gives them the right to field their leading names, and they claim that English rugby needs a thriving club scene in order to survive.

But, by contributing to England's worst start to the championship in 18 years, they have demolished all of the foundations laid by the former regime.

There are, of course, other factors in England's decline. Robinson's management leaves a lot to be desired - his handling of Newcastle centre Mathew Tait has been nothing short of a disgrace - and the retirement of the likes of Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio and Neil Back has left a series of as yet unfilled gaps.

Ultimately, though, Woodward's gloomy prediction has proved particularly astute.

The former coach was fond of his management mantras and often warned: "Fail to prepare and you prepare to fail".

With his job now hanging in the balance, Robinson must be acutely aware of that.