England debate over Lancaster resurfaces but now is time for looking forward | Paul Rees


The serialisation of a new book by Rob Andrew has taken discussions back a few years but England need to be looking to the future

On Monday, the day before the second anniversary of his final match as England’s head coach, Stuart Lancaster was still dealing with the fallout from the failed World Cup campaign as he responded to comments about his four years in charge made in a serialisation of a new book by Rob Andrew, the Rugby Football Union’s former director of professional rugby.

Lancaster is now based in Ireland, along with one of his former England coaches, Andy Farrell, but there is nowhere far enough away to escape from references to the 2015 World Cup and, in particular, the selection of Sam Burgess, who had switched codes less than a year before the start of the tournament and was named in the squad as a centre having been deployed at wing forward by his then club Bath.

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