London: Stuart Lancaster has stepped down as England head coach by “mutual consent”, England’s Rugby Football Union announced on Wednesday.
Lancaster’s departure, three and a half years after his appointment, was expected in the light of England’s disastrous World Cup campaign, which saw the hosts eliminated in the group phase.
“I am obviously extremely saddened to finish the way we did in this World Cup and to step down from the role,” Lancaster said in a statement released by the RFU.
“As I have always said, I ultimately accept and take responsibility for the team’s performance and we have not delivered the results we all hoped for during this tournament.”
Appointed in April 2012, Lancaster, 46, led England to four successive second-place finishes in the Six Nations championship, but this year’s World Cup was always his primary objective.
It proved a spectacular failure, with England crashing out following defeats by Wales and Australia, while Lancaster faced strong criticism for unsuccessful selection gambles such as his decision to place his faith in rugby league convert Sam Burgess.
“The Rugby World Cup was hugely disappointing for everyone associated with the England team and the subsequent review into the team’s performance was always intended to be extremely comprehensive, which it has been,” said RFU chief executive Ian Ritchie.
“Stuart has been fully involved and has given feedback as well as the other coaches, players, management and a wide variety of people from around the game.
“Following the review, Stuart and I met, where we agreed that he should step down as head coach.”
Ritchie will now lead the search for Lancaster’s successor, which the RFU said would begin “immediately”.
Lancaster and his assistants — Graham Rowntree, Mike Catt, Andy Farrell — received contract extensions in October 2014 to the end of the 2019-20 season, to take in the just-finished Rugby World Cup, and the 2019 tournament in Japan.
In a massive show of faith by the RFU, Ritchie said at the time that Lancaster and Co. were “a special and stable coaching team” and it was “entirely the right decision for the future of England Rugby.”
But with everything set up for England to go deep in the tournament — home advantage, the draw, confidence-boosting warm-up results — four years of planning were wasted when Lancaster and the selectors made poor choices before and during the tournament.
First, they dumped in-form center Luther Burrell to gamble on rugby league convert Sam Burgess, who they tried to turn into a center after he played flanker for his club. After little more than a year in rugby union, he returned to rugby league last week saying he had more passion and heart for league.
Second, Lancaster panicked after the opening World Cup win over Fiji, dropping flyhalf George Ford and starting Burgess for the injured Jonathan Joseph for the second pool match against Wales.
Wales came from 10 points down in the second half to win, helped by England captain Chris Robshaw opting for a last-gasp attacking line-out instead of a penalty kick for a draw. Owen Farrell hadn’t missed a goal kick. The line-out was stuffed by Wales and, ultimately, a draw would have advanced England to the quarter finals. They were eliminated from contention by Australia in the next pool match.
— AFP
