HEADING HOME

And so, just a week after we saw England lose to Wales, they are out of their own World Cup.

Let that sink in for a moment. Backed by their own fans, with no travelling to do and their national stadium to play in for every pool game (bar Uruguay this weekend), England still couldn’t get the job done against either Wales or Australia and as such will be heading home with no knockout rugby to play in their own World Cup.

And when I say heading home, I really mean they’ll stay exactly where they are.

Don’t gloss over the fact that this complete humiliation for England – they are the first host nation in World Cup history not to qualify for the last eight and they only have themselves to blame. Ignoring the increasingly bizarre decision not to allow the best openside in European rugby to play for them (Steffon Armitage of Toulon), England were tactically inept and incorrect in their team selections. By the time Matt Giteau crossed to complete the drubbing on Saturday, Chris Robshaw’s men were too tired to even chase him back, which spoke volumes as to how their challenge had fallen flat.

It will probably mark the end of a sorry reign for Stuart Lancaster. The media that backed him to the hilt before the World Cup began have now mercilessly turned on him and are baying for blood to be spilt before any more damage can be done. They have every right to, of course, and Lancaster has attempted to reduce the slight arrears by playing something of an experimental side against Uruguay, but it doesn’t hide the fact that this will more than likely be the coach’s last game in charge of his national team.

English journalists Stuart Barnes and Stephen Jones were both scathing in their assessments of Lancaster’s reign, and both raised good points – what has Lancaster actually achieved since he took over in 2011?

Arguably, not much.

Despite many impressive wins, including taking down the All Blacks at Twickenham, Lancaster has never prevailed in the big games that matter. They never pushed on from that win over New Zealand. Winning at the Millennium Stadium in the opening match of this year’s Six Nations was immediately undone by a tame defeat at the hands of Ireland. And the last two weeks have finally given the heads of the RFU enough ammunition to take him down.

In short, Lancaster inherited a side with promise and didn’t do anything with them. Robshaw as captain has proved to be a flawed decision both back in Autumn 2012 and last week, the rapid rise of George Ford (who I maintain should have started against Wales and Australia even if England had won) was neglected in favour of the conservative Owen Farrell, and the selection of the unproven Sam Burgess was crazy on two fronts – one that he was played at centre where he is yet to impress at any level, and two that he was chosen over Luther Burrell who does the same role and has the experience on the international stage.

So with those thoughts in mind, it is not unreasonable to expect the RFU to act, and to act quickly in relieving Lancaster of command. Questions have arisen over whether Lancaster was even in charge of team selection (a valid argument) and even more recently whether he was involved in an altercation with referee Romain Poite at half time on Saturday night.

Even if they do back him, perhaps it would be best for the RFU to ditch him to save face.

As for the team, there are a few things they must address regardless of who will be calling the shots come the Six Nations (Jake White is conveniently available…).

Firstly they must repair their relationship with Steffon Armitage. Robshaw’s time as captain should be over, and unless he is willing to ply his trade at blindside for his country, then his starting position should be gone too. England were blown away at the breakdown on Saturday by the combined work of Pocock and Hooper, and that alone should be the catalyst needed to welcome Armitage back into the fold. Not that they should need any more reason beyond the fact he is, by a long way, the best 7 in Europe.

They must also settle on a starting fly-half, who should be George Ford, work out what Sam Burgess’ role within the setup is, if he does indeed stay within the setup, and also take a look at Joe Marler’s scrummaging – they can defend it as much as they want, it does not change the fact that he is boring in at a 90 degree angle and is illegal. Luckily Romain Poite picked up on that, probably with a certain degree of help from the scrutiny Marler got in the build up to the game.

Can England take any positives from the World Cup? If any they can be satisfied they have a world class outside centre in Jonathan Joseph with whom they can build their back line around. His performance against Australia was enough justification to show that his absence for the Wales match was one of the reasons why England lost – he brought a spark to the backline that wasn’t there a week previous.

It’s a slap in the face for England, its players, its fans and its head coach. In the build up to this World Cup England were overhyped and overestimated and they have fallen remarkably short of everything that was projected for them, and now they have to deal with the aftermath of one of the biggest disappointments in its sporting history. It will hurt, and it will take a lot of time to recover, but it starts now, even in the midst of the misery that will be heaped onto them.

And this week, there’s no reason for Robshaw to hold his head high.