The chairman of the Lions committee Bill Beaumont will tomorrow set out to reassure members of the Celtic unions that Sir Clive Woodward should coach the tourists in New Zealand next year.

Woodward, who resigned as England head coach last week, has still to sign his Lions contract and the Celts need to be convinced that he remains totally committed to the tour. The committee will meet in Dublin tomorrow.

Beaumont said he did not know if Woodward would be present but he intended to speak with him beforehand. Woodward left his England post with a blast at some of the directors of rugby in the Zurich Premiership for an alleged lack of cooperation and clubs were reported to be considering banning him from their grounds, but yesterday he issued an apology for his outburst.

"The Tuesday meeting has been brought forward because we need to look at the fall-out from last week," said Beaumont yesterday. "Clive's position is an agenda item because those on the committee read newspapers, hear stories and need to know what is going on.

"It is a case of clearing the air as far as I am concerned. Clive has not signed a contract with us but we shook hands with him and it was clear from his remarks last week that he remains totally dedicated to the Lions.

"I will be speaking to Clive before the meeting but he has already assured me that he will not be taking on any commitments which would interfere with his job of preparing the Lions.

"My own view is that Clive will be taking the squad to New Zealand. We want him to sign the contract and we will be announcing the rest of his management team later this month. As far as the suggested ban by Premiership clubs is concerned, he has issued an apology for his remarks and that should be the end of the matter. What was forgotten in last week's hubbub was Clive's remarkable record with England."

Despite Woodward's belated apology, the targets of his outburst continue to be unimpressed. The RFU's management board chairman Graeme Cattermole asked yesterday why Woodward had not disagreed with the elite-player squad agreement in advance, and Wasps' director of rugby Warren Gatland again criticised the former coach's failure to communicate with or visit England's champion club.

"Ask any of the players who have played for England who play for Wasps how they are looked after at club level and what time they get off," said Gatland. "We've never complained at all and we have always been willing to release players to train with England and then give them the next couple of days off.

"Clive has new challenges now but he probably wanted to get a few things off his chest before he left."

Several Test coaches, including Australia's Eddie Jones, have visited Wasps' training ground and Gatland is pleading for better dialogue in the future. "England coaches are welcome at any stage and, whoever the next England coach is, let's sit down round the table and discuss the problems."

Lawrence Dallaglio has also defended the clubs against Woodward's criticism that they have acted against the national squad's best interests. "I think the clubs have done the best they can to develop players for England, and the clubs and the RFU have come closer together in recent years. There's no doubt things have to keep going forward and one solution is for England coaches to spend more time with the clubs."

Dallaglio's personal view is that "as soon as Clive got that Lions position his job as Eng land coach became untenable" and that a move to soccer was not Woodward's prime motivation for leaving Twickenham. This football thing is such a sexy story and different from anything else we have heard before that it's diverted from the main reasons why he has given up the job."

Dallaglio also insists that the national team can bounce back from a traumatic week. "Everyone is all doom and gloom but I'm very confident things will move forward and England will get to winning ways. The players will be incredibly well motivated, which you'd have to say they haven't been altogether since November 22."

He also gave cautious backing to Andy Robinson as the RFU deliberates whether to offer him the England head coach role long-term. "Clive's a unique person and Andy has to establish his own structure. I'm sure he'd do that and has the ability to do that if he gets the job full-time."