England’s World Cup dreams came to a brutal end just 16 days into the tournament against Australia. They will go down in history as the first ever host team to be absent from the knock-out phase. The Rugby Football Union will open an investigation after the tournament.
Lancaster and RFU chief executive Ian Ritchie face uncertain futures. According to Lancaster, each of them will be soiled by English rugby’s gloomiest hour. “I’m the head coach and we didn’t get out of the pool. This is going to sit with us all forever, players, coaches, management,” Lancaster said in the Telegraph.
“I don’t think I’ll ever come to terms with it personally because it was such a big thing.”
James Clark