Stuart Lancaster quits as England rugby's head coach

The 46-year-old has paid the price for a dismal World Cup campaign that saw the hosts fail to get out of the pool stages following defeats to Wales and Australia.

Having been appointed in 2012, it was widely anticipated Lancaster would leave his post after a review in the wake of the tournament, but the Rugby Football Union announced his departure in a statement on Wednesday morning.

"The Rugby Football Union can confirm that Stuart Lancaster has, by mutual consent, stepped down as England head coach," it read.

"I took on the role in difficult circumstances and it has been a huge challenge to transition the team with many hurdles along the way. However, I am immensely proud of the development of this team and I know that there is an incredibly strong foundation for them to progress to great things in the future. We have played some excellent rugby and it was always going to be tough to get the right level of experience into them in time for 2015. It is a young group of players with the huge majority available for the Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019, where I believe their recent experience will make them genuine contenders.