By Andrew Baldock, PA Sport Rugby Union Correspondent, Wellington

Sir Clive Woodward - discuss, in no more than 900 words.

For a start, it seems an age since Woodward masterminded England's World Cup triumph, achieving his crowning glory on a rainswept Saturday night in Sydney 19 months ago.

Woodward was the coach who delivered, a master-planner who left no stone unturned and ensured his squad arrived at rugby union's showpiece global event as the best-prepared of all their major rivals.

England sent France packing and knocked South Africa out of kilter by defeating them at the pool stage, while New Zealand suffered a semi-final collapse against Australia before Woodward's men denied the Wallabies and returned home with the Webb Ellis Trophy aboard their flight in seat 1A.

How long ago that now all seems.

Woodward's England reign lasted just another nine months before he quit with a blast at the Twickenham hierarchy and, having already been appointed Lions supremo, he started work on making his Lions, yes you've guessed it, the best-prepared ever.

In the immediate World Cup aftermath Woodward was an untouchable, lauded by anyone and everyone, winning more awards than he could possibly carry home to Berkshire and then being honoured with a knighthood.

His subsequent coaching record though, is desperately poor.

Of his last eight England Tests in charge, the world champions lost five, including thumpings Down Under against Australia and New Zealand (twice), while Ireland memorably stole their long unbeaten record at Twickenham.

And so, to the Lions, another Woodward enterprise with no expense spared.

A jumbo-sized 45-man squad, plus almost 30 management and back-room staff, set off from Heathrow five weeks ago with one aim - to emulate Carwyn James' legendary 1971 Lions and a win a Test series in New Zealand.

Woodward knew the enormous task he was facing but it has to be said that with just three matches remaining there is no obvious sign of him making mission improbable a success.

His knack of retrieving situations and pulling big wins out of the fire cannot be underestimated yet to turn the Test series on its head now would, without doubt, represent his greatest achievement.

The Lions were an embarrassing shambles in Christchurch last weekend, letting down thousands of fans who have travelled 12,000 miles to witness what they hoped would be an unforgettable sporting spectacle.

It was unforgettable all right - for the monsoon conditions, freezing wind and an All Blacks pack which made mincemeat of a Lions eight coached, somewhat disconcertingly, by England boss Andy Robinson.

Woodward, to his credit, took that setback - has there ever been a more emphatic 21-3 defeat in Test history? - on the chin, and responded by making 11 changes, including four positional switches, for Saturday's second meeting.

This is now win or bust time and Woodward has at least taken the drastic action necessary, axing those players who under-performed and handing genuinely exciting talents like Gavin Henson, Shane Williams and Ryan Jones their big chance.

Some selections though, are baffling.

Why pick a Welsh back division quartet of Henson, Williams, Gareth Thomas and Dwayne Peel, and leave out Wales' Six Nations catalyst Stephen Jones? And why select Irish locks Paul O'Connell and Donncha O'Callaghan, then omit Irish hooker Shane Byrne?

Perhaps only Woodward knows the answer.

Either way, Lions supporters who have invaded Wellington in their thousands will hope for a Saturday to celebrate, rather than another depressing evening of collective head-shaking and navel-gazing.

On the subject of head-shaking, it was much in evidence among the travelling media when the Lions spin department went into overdrive last Saturday.

Midnight, local time, had come and gone when Woodward and Lions 'media consultant' Alastair Campbell strode into the city centre media hotel to highlight the spear-tackle which ended captain Brian O'Driscoll's tour.

Although it might not have been the intention, as an exercise in trying to divert attention away from a desperate Lions performance it certainly had some success.

And so it went on and on, culminating with Woodward's picture show highlighting the incident in graphic slow motion detail after the Lions party pitched up in Wellington some 18 hours later.

O'Driscoll's tacklers - hooker Keven Mealamu and captain Tana Umaga - escaped punishment and while an apology from the All Blacks camp to O'Driscoll would certainly have helped, there is no doubt, in my opinion, the saga was deliberately spun out.

The Lions, rightly, felt hard done-by but the speed with which they counter-attacked was enough to catch most defences off-guard. Perhaps Campbell should play at outside centre on Saturday.

The Umaga/Mealamu incident episode suggests there could well be an under-current of animosity going into Saturday's clash, and it would be no surprise if Australian referee Andrew Cole had his hands full.

For the Lions though, it is all about winning and setting up a mouth-watering decider in Auckland on Saturday week.

They should not be written off, and Woodward's second Test team has a far more creative, youthful look about it than the one he fielded last weekend.

But if it all goes pear-shaped again, Woodward's great Lions adventure will be over, one week inside the distance and consigned to history as a multi-million pound flop.

Spin yourself out of that one Alastair....