England announce details of RWC review

World Cup-winning lock Ben Kay and former British and Irish Lions coach Ian McGeechan are on a five-man panel undertaking a review of England’s failure at the Rugby World Cup.

England lost to Wales and Australia in the pool stage and failed to reach the quarter-finals for the first time at a World Cup.

It was also the first time a host team failed to advance to the knockout stage.

England’s Rugby Football Union on Monday said a review of the campaign has begun, looking at England’s preparation, performances and the effectiveness of the team’s coaching staff.

Head coach Stuart Lancaster’s job is on the line.

Kay, a World Cup winner from 2003, and McGeechan join three English rugby officials on the panel.

“While the RFU will be focusing on continuing to deliver a fantastic tournament over the next two weeks, it is hugely disappointing not to have progressed through to the knockout stages,” RFU chief executive and panel chairman Ian Ritchie said in a statement.

“With that in mind, we have begun to review the senior team’s campaign to ensure that we learn and improve from this experience in order to be consistently successful.”

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