Robinson’s job remains under threat but he has insisted he will not allow the opinions of his detractors to affect him.

And Woodward said of his former assistant: “I would never criticise a fellow coach.

“I know Andy very well. He has been a fantastic support to me.

“He knew what he was walking into. If somebody had come from overseas and got into the job I would have had a huge amount of sympathy.

“Andy was going to work with the system – he knew what he was getting into.”

Woodward is now the British Olympic Association’s director of elite performance.

He was speaking at the annual conference of the Association of Colleges in Birmingham today – exactly three years to the day since England won rugby union’s World Cup.

Asked if he thought fourth in the medals table at the Olympics in 2012 was too ambitious for Great Britain, he added: “I have a huge issue standing here and saying we want to come fourth.

“Why on earth do we want to? You don’t want to come fourth. It’s not the right thing to say. You want to come first.

“We want to achieve more gold medals than we have done before. How can we say we want to come fourth?”