Skip to content

England: 'Defeat hurts' admits coach Stuart Lancaster

Image: Stuart Lancaster: Accepts the pressure on England will crank up as the World Cup approaches

Stuart Lancaster says he was hurt by criticism following England’s back-to-back defeats at Twickenham and admits the pressure on both him and the squad will crank up as the World Cup approaches next year.

England have experienced their worst sequence of results for eight years after losses to New Zealand and South Africa took their run of Test defeats to five.

Only 10 games remain before next year's home World Cup, with the poor recent form of half-backs Danny Care and Owen Farrell being a particular concern as well as the decision making all around the pitch.

The England coach said: "We're going to have pressure on us when the World Cup comes around, irrespective of the results leading up to it.

"That's what comes with the expectation of being the home nation, so we better get used to it. And so had I.

"The criticism is hard to take. It's not nice and it's not taken lightly. It's not very easy to tune out from. And it hurts. It hurts when you lose as England – and it should do.

"It hurts me personally because I'm responsible for the team and it hurts the players because the players care about the team.

"No-one accepts it as part of the job because you don't want it to happen but when it does come you've just got to accept it for what it is.

"More importantly, you have to make sure that you and all the other guys keep some perspective about what you're trying to do because it's when the pressure starts to affect the team internally that when problems begin.

"My sense is that we're disappointed with ourselves but we have to continue to believe in what we're doing."

It hurts me personally and it hurts the players because the players care about the team
Stuart Lancaster

As for the nature of these last two recent defeats, 24-21 to the All Blacks and 31-28 to the Springboks, Lancaster remained upbeat.

He added: "We've not been smashed by any of them.

“I've seen South Africa get beaten by 30 points in the summer, I've seen South Africa beat Australia by 30 points, I've seen New Zealand put 50 points on Australia.

"Now we've come up short and we're not happy about that but we've not been smashed."

Watch England take on Samoa this Saturday on Sky Sports 2 HD from 6.30pm

Around Sky