Rugby World Cup
England cracks widen as players turn on themselves after Rugby World Cup exit
AAP
October 8, 2015
Slade out to prove point

The Wallabies' humiliating defeat of England has seen splits in the old enemy's ranks become a full-blown chasm, with current and former players engaging in public spats and news of training ground bust-ups leaked after the host nation's early exit from the Rugby World Cup - the first by a home team in the pool stages of the tournament.

None of the splits were evident before the Wallabies turned the tables on England's scrum and dumped them from the World Cup with a 33-13 victory on Saturday, but the knives now are out in the England camp while Michael Cheika and his charges ramp up their plans to become the first nation to win a third World Cup title.

Sam Burgess has worn much of the criticism, and the high-profile dual international has been dropped from England's match-day 23 to face Uruguay in their final pool game on Saturday. Burgess' treatment has even sparked a Twitter trend, with the hashtag #BlameBurgess encouraging users to vent about their daily problems while sarcastically pinning the blame on England rugby's scapegoat. 

But revelations that assistant coach Mike Catt and dropped playmaker Danny Cipriani engaged in a heated slanging match prior to the tournament indicate that more serious underlying issues may have plagued their campaign. Media reports suggested Catt told former Melbourne Rebels playmaker Cipriani, who subsequently was omitted from coach Stuart Lancaster's 31-man squad, that he would "end your England career". That was denied by an England rugby spokesman, who said: "Danny and Mike were involved in a robust conversation on the training pitch following a misunderstanding around a training drill instruction. Both shook hands afterwards and the incident played no bearing on selection."

Change is inevitable for England
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There are reports that players will not contribute to an enquiry into the disastrous campaign, while veteran back-rower James Haskell has engaged in heated Twitter rows with former England champions Neil Back and Lewis Moody to highlight the divide between the squad and teams that went before them.

Haskell unleashed in response to a post by Back, a World Cup-winning flanker, about his use of a selfie stick before the win over Fiji in the World Cup opener.

"I wasn't even playing! You're so old and out of touch your eyes dont work," Haskell tweeted before attacking Back's motives of driving book sales.

"I hope your book sales go better than your coaching. "You were one of my childhood heroes, yet the general negativity towards myself and the team is appalling. "You talk about my self promotion yet u have released a sensationalist book just to make cash. "Rule No.1 - never meet your heroes."

England just didn't perform
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Haskell later deleted the tweets and the pair agreed to talk via direct messages.

England's 2011 campaign ended in a quarter-final exit in New Zealand, which itself led to a post-mortem enquiry and ultimately the sacking of head coach Martin Johnson.

Mike Tindall, who was the captain of the 2011 team, hopes there wouldn't be too much blood spilt as the RFU looked for answers this time around.

"I hate the fact there is always a witch-hunt after," he told BBC radio. "They have gone out, and have the tag of having the worst result England have ever had in a World Cup. That is going to burn any of those players. Fans say there are hurting from it - I guarantee players are hurting a hundred times over."

© AAP

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