The English newspapers have reacted as expected after the mortifying spectacle of witnessing their country become the first host to exit the competition at the pool stage.
Negative superlatives have been given free reign and one columnist idly suggested that those who paid into Twickenham should get refunded.
In the Sunday Times, Stuart Barnes dubbed it the 'worst day in English rugby history', arrived at via 'awful selection, muddled thinking and fear of the outsider'. England's refusal to pick players based outside the Premiership featured heavily in the aftermath, with Steffon Armitage's name being prominent.
England were afraid to rock the boat by picking Steffon Armitage. A sometimes troublesome talent but potentially the best player at England’s disposal, he was ignored because of the ruling that prevents overseas players being selected other than in exceptional circumstances. These were exceptional circumstances.
England’s niceness and fear of the outsider brought us to today, the worst day of English rugby history.
Adding to the internet's inexhaustible supply of snark (we're all guilty), Andy Bull in the Guardian was perhaps the most cutting. Bull mocked Lancaster's attitude to team building as being akin to painting the Forth Bridge, ie, something that just goes on and on but never actually finishes.
At this rate of progress, it feels as if Lancaster will finally have his 2015 team ready sometime the year after next. He seems to think that team building is a job akin to painting the Forth Bridge, something that simply goes on and on, starting over and again, without ever actually finishing.
Wales's most prominent anglophile Stephen Jones struck a note of lamentation in his match report.
There was to be no exhumation at Twickenham last night. England are gone, standing outside the door of their own party. They were hammered in almost every significant phase of a magnificent occasion, and a brutal indication of how ludicrous were their aspirations of glory, and how misplaced any hopes of escaping the Pool Of Death.
The anger that so wonderful a rugby country should produce so bedraggled a team for these past few months can wait a while.
In his more wide-ranging autopsy piece, Jones traced the disaster back to 2006, and the appointment of the first Elite Performance Director, when Clive Woodward was somehow overlooked in favour Rob Andrew.
It led to the appointment of an internal candidate without experience of international rugby in Stuart Lancaster, who was not remotely of the stature of the great men of the era — Graham Henry, Warren Gatland, Steve Hansen, Michael Cheika, Joe Schmidt — and was the root cause of their disappearance this morning from their own World Cup of 2015.
In the Daily Telegraph, Paul Hayward was a tad more sympathetic to Lancaster than most, drawing comparisons with Clive Woodward's position following the 1999 World Cup, in which England were beaten by Janie De Beer's drop goals in the quarter-final. However, he didn't attempt to disguise the ignominy of it all.
Mortifying. England out, three games into their own World Cup. 16 days into the tournament. The bond between team and fans – broken, for now. This event will glide on without Stuart Lancaster’s men but there is no disguising the ignominy of what happened here, and against Wales. England were not ready, not clever and not good enough.
In the same paper, Ian McGeechan emerged as the most pro-Lancaster contributor suggesting that the RFU should stick with their coach, something other columnists stopped short of doing. He identified the scrum and the breakdown as the two areas where England let themselves down.
I would urge Ian Ritchie, chief executive at the Rugby Football Union, and Lancaster himself, not to make any rash decisions. Lancaster has a six-year contract and any decisions regarding his future need to be made with a clear head not in the heat of the moment. England have come a long way in his tenure, they are still a young team and they are still a work in progress.
Clive Woodward in the Daily Mail adopted a statesmanlike and civic minded tone, urging England fans not to lose interest in the tournament because their team were knocked out.
The future of Stuart Lancaster and others must not be allowed to hijack this tournament. It is vitally important English rugby continues delivering and supporting this great World Cup. English rugby is still in the shop window, school kids and youngsters are still loving this tournament, fans from overseas are loving it and the profile of the game is rocketing.
In his main report, Sam Peters throw his all into capturing the momentous awfulness of it all, remarking that the coach's nightmare had come true in 'vivid technicolour'.
He also suggested that the RFU should consider a mass refund of those who paid into Twickenham last night, a proposal which would set an interesting precedent. (Carlow GAA supporters would get into every game free). And he dwelt on Lancaster's big game defeats since 2012.
Some of the 81,080 fans had been asked to pay £315 a ticket. The RFU should consider a mass refund...
Wales in Cardiff in 2013? Flop. Ireland in Dublin in 2015? Flop. Wales at Twickenham last weekend? Flop. Australia on Saturday night? Humiliation. When the heat comes on, Lancaster’s England wilt.
Any positives? Well, Lawrence Dallaglio in the Times has written that Ireland are good enough to win the World Cup.
