by Kris Chesney

Saracens legend and current Southend Saxons star

I WAS hoping this week’s column was going to be far more positive from England’s point of view but that certainly isn’t the case.

Losing like we did against Australia to seal our elimination from the competition is pretty hard to take.

Fair play to Australia, they produced a good performance under pressure and they had clearly done their home-work as they were able to exploit England’s weaknesses.

Since then, Stuart Lancaster has taken a lot of criticism and I don’t think he’s done himself any favours with the starting line-up he’s picked for the Uruguay game on Saturday.

As far as he’s concerned, I think he should be looking at it as the first game of his next spell in charge and not as a dead rubber.

But the team he’s gone with throws up a number of questions.

Who is the number one choice at fly half and what’s happening with Sam Burgess?

All of this should have been sorted out long before a World Cup started.

Question marks now surround Lancaster’s future and I’m not sure whether or not he should keep his job.

I say that because I’m not really too sure who is out there that can come in and replace him.

I’m sure there a few foreign coaches who would fancy it and I do think Stuart will be leaving his role because, after such a bad World Cup, I think there does need to be a clear out.

PLAYERS IN FRANCE SHOULD HAVE BEEN SELECTED 

AS we look to the future with England I think one of the biggest things that needs looking at is the decision not to pick players who play for clubs in France.

Having gone out there to play in my own career, it’s something I just don’t understand.

Australia do it and this is not the Six Nations, it’s the World Cup.

You have to pick the very best players you have and we haven’t done that.

In particular, the decision not to pick Steffon Armitage has come back to bite us in the backside.

Not picking players – such as Dylan Hartley and Manu Tuilagi – due to disciplinary matters is completely different.

I think it’s their fault not England’s that they aren’t available.

IRELAND WILL GO FAR IN COMPETITION

THE World Cup is still continuing and I fancy Ireland to do well in the competition.

If they beat France this weekend, which I think they will, they have quite a straight forward route to the semi-finals.

They have a strong side and they will probably have a lot more support now England have gone out as well so I think they have a good chance of success.