Share

Stuart Lancaster unsure of England future following Rugby World Cup exit

England’s head coach Stuart Lancaster attends a press conference at Pennyhill Park hotel near Bagshot, south west of London, the United Kingdom, on Sunday, a day after England lost their Rugby World Cup 2015 Pool A match against Australia.

Advertisement

Next week, back at Twickenham, Cheika will pit his wits against Wales coach Warren Gatland and he is expecting a testing encounter.

The SANZAR investigation found Cheika had a “short and polite exchange” with Peyper to clarify a scrum interpretation, but that there was no evidence the referee was influenced by the exchange in his handling of the match.

Following England’s poor showing at the 2011 World Cup, Lancaster culled a number of 30-plus aged players and introduced a collection of youngsters into his squad.

A 33-13 rout by Australia – a record losing margin to the Wallabies at Twickenham – condemned England to becoming the first host nation to exit the tournament at the group phase.

The All Blacks – who were sensationally beaten by Australia in the Rugby Championship prior to the World Cup – have already taken careful note of the way the Wallabies’ forwards dealt with England.

“And Jonno being the person that he was wouldn’t have other people fall on his sword, so he stepped down, which I think was a huge mistake for the RFU not to retain him”.

The All Blacks may have to play their World Cup nemesis France in the quarter-finals at the Millennium Stadium where their hopes of glory in 2007 were destroyed at the same stage of the tournament by the northern hemisphere giants.

Marler was hooked after 50 minutes following a terse exchange with Poite about coming in at an angle after he’d conceded a fourth penalty.

That led to a stinging rebuke from Ritchie, who earlier this year said: “I don’t think that is acceptable at all“.

But the question of whether Lancaster had the necessary tactical expertise loomed large long before former England captain Will Carling last week slammed the coach for treating players as “schoolboys” in a “classroom environment”. “We want the best players to stay in England”.

Eddie Jones, the Japan coach, has admitted he would be interested in replacing Stuart Lancaster should the RFU decide to replace the England head coach following their disappointing Rugby World Cup campaign. We’re a proud England team and we’ve failed.

“From my point of view, my priority is to get the team ready for Uruguay, and I am not in control of anything else”, he added.

“It [Australia’s win] gives us the opportunity and we don’t have the burden of needing to win the game to qualify”.

“Their names were getting mentioned a lot so obviously England weren’t successful in nullifying them”.

“We all feel a sense of disappointment at what’s happened and we owe it to ourselves to do it but we must look at it a calm manner”.

Alongside David Pocock and Scott Fardy, Hooper is part of arguably the tournament’s most effective back row, but his participation against Wales – and possibly beyond that – could now be in doubt.

Advertisement

“From my World Cup experience, finishing top of your pool is very important”.

Peacock Australia England Rugby World Cup