England exit Rugby World Cup: Where did it all go wrong?

 

England have become the first host nation of a Rugby World Cup to be knocked out in the group stages in the competitions history, completing their worst ever tournament in the process, and after defeats against both Wales and Australia, The Sports Lowdown looks at where it went wrong for Stuart Lancaster’s side.

 

Defeat to Australia and inconsistent team selections:

After a 33-13 defeat at the hands of Australia, England exited this year’s Rugby World Cup, completing a miserable summer for the host nation of the competition.

We begin by looking at the squad selection. Against Wales, the centre pairing was just a small part of head coach Stuart Lancaster’s selection, with the duo having never played a competitive match together. Furthermore, they were the 14th combination of Lancaster’s reign, before fielding his 18th combination of both fly-half and centres in the defeat against Australia.

Inconsistency in terms of both selection and the players performances had caused the downfall for the nation’s delivery and the managers authority, and it clearly proved neither were good enough. The 2003 winners headed into the tournament unsure of their best starting fifteen. Luther Burrell was left out of the squad, while rugby league convert Sam Burgess was named amongst the participants.

Other names such as George Ford, a key figure for England in previous matches, and Danny Cipriani, were also not key to Lancaster’s plans, contributing to the lack of success England achieved this summer.