Rugby World Cup 2015: George Ford backs England to recover

The ex-England number eight blasted Lancaster for “muddled selection” and said he was “not a fan” of Sam Burgess’ inclusion in the national team. The abiding lesson, he says, was just how fine the margins are at the top of the sport.

Lancaster was still hurting yesterday when he appeared in public to name his side for this weekend’s “dead” match with Uruguay in Manchester – a team showing nine changes, one of them positional, from that which crumbled against Australia at Twickenham four days ago and effectively disappeared from the tournament as a effect.

“We owe it to ourselves and the supporters who have been brilliant throughout”.

Whatever individuals’ thoughts are on Stuart’s future I hope that everyone is united in the opinion that the manner in which he has conducted himself, in the aftermath of Saturday evening’s defeat and England’s exit from the competition, has been an example to all.

“I have no doubt that Lancaster will go”, he said.

He added: “Clive’s had his time – he was an wonderful coach and incredible businessman to take us from amateur into professionalism – but when you look at coaches coming back it never really works and I don’t think he is the man for the job now”. “We all want to be world champions and it is a matter of improving each day”.

“Whoever Ian Ritchie and Rob Andrew asked for advice, they’ve got it wrong. That’s the way it’s always been and I think over the last few years we’ve been pretty successful in the evolution of our attack”. We’ve talked about next time the England squad gets selected, his goal’s got to be to be there as a six.

Among the issues expected to be examined are: the elevation of rugby league convert Sam Burgess into the squad at the expense of Luther Burrell; the balance of power between Lancaster and his assistant coaches; and the clampdown on players’ commercial opportunities versus national team sponsorship obligations.

“When you watch him live, there’s a huge amount of error around him”, said Ryan. “But when he goes in, he makes defensive errors and compromises people around him”.

Lancaster has said he will be permanently scarred by the World Cup defeat.

He said: “We’re absolutely gutted to be going out of the World Cup, more so a home World Cup”.

“Is that what we need?”

The latter, by contrast, have 17 players who have been to the World Cup before, two more than Wales, who are joint-second with South Africa on the list among this year’s likely contenders.

Throughout his career in Test and Super Rugby, Waugh, now 36, played in sides that won back-to-back games repeatedly, and also on teams that did not.