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By Mike Henson
BBC Sport
Eddie Jones is going to expect since, for the previous 16 years, England’s Rugby World Cup performances have been heading in the opposite way the only real way is up.
From world champions in 2003, in 2015, into the quarter-finals from 2011 and a gut-punch exit in home gardening to runners-up in 2007.
Here is the narrative of these attempts from the guys who were there.
England’s World Cup campaign was their second trip down beneath of 2003.
Three weeks they had become the first England side in 30 years to conquer the All Blacks in their own turf before beating world champions Australia, with a victory in Wellington seven days in Melbourne.
For the very first time, a team other than New Zealand came to the World Cup as favourites. And the press and people sledged away in the champions.
“We’ve got it all the time, every week,” recalls wing Jason Robinson.
“It was all kinds. ‘The snowy orcs on steroids’ ‘The older guys’ England couldn’t play, we were dull, this and the other.
“You consistently get it no matter where you go, however in Australia likely more so.”
However, England’s supporters were just as much of a problem using an of those turning their own personalities and descending on Sydney – as their critics.
“That previous week felt as though we were in prison,” adds Robinson.
“So many lovers had come over – the support has been fantastic – however we had been stuck in the hotel. We looked at Manly beach, however there were tens of thousands of supporters outside looking straight back in.
“We couldn’t go out everywhere. It was a zoo. So when it came into the match we had been desperate to get to it and get it done.”
And they did do it. Robinson scored the only try of England in an extra-time victory rectified by Jonny Wilkinson’s drop-goal.
“Back in 2000 I was a soccer league player, being headhunted by England coach Clive Woodward and speaking about this World Cup, even realizing I could be a part of it,” states the 45-year-old.
“Then three years down the line, I was there at the last, scoring the test.
“No other experience in rugby can accommodate it, and it affects a lot of things for you moving. There aren’t a lot of times when someone doesn’t inform me where they had been on that day.
“You do it because you like the game, yet to hear other people reminiscing about where they’re enables you to realise what an impact you had.”
“It was completely different.”
Four years Robinson was again in an England Rugby World Cup effort, however in contrasting circumstances.
To begin with, he wasn’t supposed to be there. In age 31, he’d announced his retirement.
But England needed him. A pitiful run of form in 2006, including eight defeats in nine Tests, had led to Andy Robinson being ejected in the coach chair.
Robinson’s successor, brian Ashton, convinced Robinson to come back to the match for one final hurrah, even if some repeat of 2003′s run’s prospects looked distant.
“We didn’t have participated in operation or choice, we weren’t playing well or performing individually and there was bickering inside the camp – a few players thought they ought to have been being picked and there was division between some of the squad and the coaches,” remembers Robinson.
In their pool match, England were hammered 36-0 by South Africa confirming their status because also-rans. Robinson believed his rugby career was finished and pulled on his hand at the game.
“It was a five-week recovery period and I can remember coming from the pitch thinking:’Dearie me, that’s it,’” says Robinson.
“I spent much time using Phil Pask, the physio. It was ridiculous, each half an hour we had been doing something – icing, stretchingworking”
His last game was really against South Africa, but because of rematch in the last, as England fought beyond France and Australia to earn an unlikely shot in the first side to successfully shield the Williams Webb Ellis trophy.
The image of the closing was a slow-moving loop of the knee cleaning a sliver of whitewash , denying the underdogs a possibly key score early in the second half of England wing Mark Cueto . Without it, England went down 15-6.
“Our backs was contrary to the wall then very first defeat from South Africa. We’d been composed, but we made the merchandise,” reflects Robinson.
“We all thought Cueto had gone in to be fair, but sadly it was not to be and, if I am fair, South Africa were the better team daily.
“However, it shows you could get an ideal of the groundwork, something such as 2003, but occasionally determination and doggedness will get you there too. We were not that far away from winning it again.”
In the aftermath of England’s quarter-final defeat France in 2011, this site published a timeline of the controversies that had shrunk into the exit doorway.
Drunken flirting bungee jumping, hidden walkie-talkies , illegal sponsors ball swaps along with a spontaneous dip in Auckland harbour contributed to a list of eight off-field events in the space of 27 days.
“We’d had plenty of instruction about off-field materials and been informed of all of the probable mistakes we could make,” recalls next row Louis Deacon, who divides his time between working as forwards coach for Championship side Coventry and being firm and venture manager for the Matt Hampson Foundation, which encourages individuals injured through sport.
“We were well prepared for this in that way, however I don’t think we were ready for if it did actually happen.
“At night of this Mike Tindall incident [the center, newly married to Zara Phillips, was filmed by his arm around another girl ] other teams were doing precisely what we had been doing.
“We had some time off, we had a team dinner, we went for some drinks and it had been just blown massively out of proportion. It wasn’t anywhere as bad as it had been made out to be in the media.
“But we had been fighting from then on. Writer Martin Johnson was talking more about that material than what was going on on it.
“It was really frustrating because we couldn’t focus on the rugby. We’d go out as a group to get a coffee and you will find photographers all round. It had been difficult. We were sitting targets.”
Late attempts from Ben Youngs and Chris Ashton had been needed to secure narrow wins over Argentina and Scotland respectively in the pool, but England were agreeing to conquer a France team who’d dropped to Tonga last time out and if the teams met at Twickenham seven months before.
After Wales’ quarter-final triumph over Ireland on precisely the exact same side of the draw earlier in the afternoon, Johnson’s team could observe a route to the final.
“A bit of complacency settled ,” admits Deacon.
“France were at a little chaos and there were tales coming out about how they had all fallen out. We didn’t turn up and just read too much into what went on.
“I think we were looking forward because we might have had Wales from the semi-finals, who we had already beaten in the Six Nations and in one of our two summertime Test meetings.”
Shipping 16 unanswered points with France holding out for a 19-12 win before those ideas dashed.
There was still time to get Manu Tuilagi to jump off the rear of a ferry from Auckland harbour, making a police caution and a # 3,000 fine to himself.
“It was a bit of dare, a joke, and I really don’t think we thought Manu would do it – but he was young, just 20 years old,” says Deacon.
“It was bad timing after all that had occurred before.”
The Rugby Football Union had put of arriving at their home World Cup using a world rank, England trainer Stuart Lancaster the target.
Since they obtained the championship under way using a strong triumph over Fiji they were , but there was little suggestion of the carnage.
“We thought we had a chance to go all the way,” remembers scrum-half Danny Care, now one of the co-hosts of BBC Radio 5 Live’s Rugby Union Weekly.
“Stuart had done a load of work behind the scenes together using the group to demonstrate how unique it was to play for England, particularly at a home World Cup, and there were some wonderful moments with loved ones describing what it meant to have their loved ones from the group.
“With the power and support of this being a home World Cup and the players we had, we thought we could give it a good go.”
The build-up into the tournament had been dominated with the selection calls of Lancaster.
Fly-half Danny Cipriani had clashed after being told he missed out. Controversially, Sam Burgess, also a fast-tracked soccer team convert, was contained at the cost of centre Luther Burrell, who had initiated each of England’s Six Nations games. Burrell later admitted his exclusion had left him emotionally”broken”.
“It was not Sam’s fault that he got picked,” reflects Care. “He’s an unbelievable athlete and was never going to turn down a opportunity to play at a World Cup. I think everybody in the squad only felt hugely sorry for Luther Burrell for falling ”
Following a dramatic defeat by Wales, England were seen off by Australia from the match that followed.
The fallout soon followed with anonymous briefings from the camp claiming the atmosphere was too”commanding” and assistant Andy Farrell had too much say in group strategies.
Care saw the Australia conquer with Saracens’ Richard Wigglesworth favored as the back-up choice, from the stands.
“I didn’t go into the changing room after, because the remainder of the squad moved straight back into the hotel,” Care recalls.
“We only saw the boys when they return. I really don’t think any of us might believe it to be honest. All that hard work we had done and we were outside before we understood it.”
However there was one match to be performed . The final pool game against Uruguay of england was now a dead rubber, together using both teams. Contemplating his first playing time of this tournament, a triumph by which Nick Easter and Jack Nowell both scored hat-tricks was started by Care.
“The championship was over for me before I played a moment,” said Care.
“However, I was incredibly proud to be playing with my very first World Cup game for England and has been decided to put in a good performance. There was a number of us who had not played yet, so we definitely had a point to prove.
“Now I just look back at it as the largest opportunity missed.”
By Wales, England endured a 16-3 quarter-final defeat at the inaugural World Cup in 1987 sparing themselves a heavier loss from the semi-finals. Eventual winners New Zealand beat Wales 49-6 from the last four.
{England were hosts of the championship in 1991 and came close to getting home the si
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