Lancaster will not quit before Uruguay match
England coach Stuart Lancaster is still coming to terms with a comprehensive Rugby World Cup failure and will not resign just yet.
Stuart Lancaster has indicated he will not walk away before at least overseeing England's final pool match of their miserable Rugby World Cup campaign.
The host nation, who opened with an unconvincing win over Fiji, are unable to progress to the quarter-finals of the tournament following defeats to direct rivals Wales and Australia in their previous two outings at Twickenham.
All that remains for England is to contest a dead rubber against Uruguay, amid what appears sure to be a flat atmosphere at the Etihad Stadium next weekend.
Asked at a press conference on Sunday if it was appropriate for him to stand down in the wake of the 33-13 loss to the Wallabies, Lancaster said: "All things have been considered but not for now, for me."
"We've a game to play on Saturday and it's not the time now to make a decision like that. I need to get the team ready to play Uruguay on Saturday.
Lancaster, who was elevated from his role with England's youth teams following Martin Johnson's exit in 2011, offered a simple response when asked what he would have done differently during the brief, failed campaign on home soil.
"Win the Wales game," he said.
"The Wales game, obviously, being 22-12 up 60 minutes in and then to not come away with a win really put us under pressure. This game, it was small margins and big consequences in a lot of the game."
Lancaster was quick to reject allegations there are divisions within his coaching staff, particularly over the apparent inability to choose decisively between Owen Farrell and George Ford at fly-half, as well as the use of recent rugby league convert Sam Burgess.
"Put that one to bed to start with," he said.
"The decisions that we make on selection are collective, but ultimately my responsibility. I thought Owen played really well and George is a great player as well. There's not a division in the coaching team and there's not anything that needs to be looked into in that regard."
Finally, Rugby Football Union chief executive Ian Ritchie and Lancaster both defended England's decision not to select foreign-based players, including star flanker Steffon Armitage.
"I think it's very clear we all felt that was the right policy," Ritchie said.
"Stuart and I have discussed it before, we both feel it's the right policy and that continues to be the case."