“I would like to stress there will be no hasty reaction to England’s performance in this World Cup”, said Ian Ritchie, chief executive of England’s Rugby Football Union – the world’s richest national governing body.
LONDON – England rugby bosses insisted on Sunday there would be no “hasty reaction” as to coach Stuart Lancaster’s future after the team’s World Cup exit at the hands of Australia.
“World Rugby is investigating an alleged breach by the England coaching team of the match-day communications protocol between match officials and team members or union officials”, said a World Rugby statement.
The immediate inquest into England’s failure to survive the pool stage of their own World Cup threw up a thousand questions about Stuart Lancaster’s future as head coach that were never likely to be answered.
Lancaster has a contract until 2020, but when he was asked whether he would now be considering his position he replied: “Yeah, obviously I think I’ve got to”.
England will not rush into any hasty decisions over the future of head coach Stuart Lancaster after making their Rugby World Cup exit at the pool stage, Rugby Football Union Chief Executive Ian Ritchie said on Sunday.
Bernard Foley’s two tries and 18 points with the boot shattered errant England’s hopes, with Owen Farrell’s late sin-binning confirming head coach Lancaster’s nightmare scenario.
World Cup oblivion awaits if England lose for a second time in a fiercely competitive Pool A to become the first host nation to exit the tournament at the group stage, a fate made possible by the 28-25 loss to Wales.
Qera who will win his 50th cap for Fiji was emotional during the jersey presentation and encouraged his players to believe in themselves and not to rely on others.
Although much of Wales’ 23-13 Pool A victory over Fiji at the Millennium Stadium was not pretty, first-half tries by Gareth Davies and Scott Baldwin – plus 13 points from Dan Biggar – saw them home.