No knee-jerk response to England demise, says RFU's Ritchie

LONDON (Reuters) - England will not rush into any hasty decisions over the future of head coach Stuart Lancaster after making their Rugby World Cup exit at the pool stage, Rugby Football Union Chief Executive Ian Ritchie said on Sunday. The tournament hosts cannot reach the last eight from Pool A after Australia applied the killer blow with Saturday's 33-13 win at Twickenham, a week after Wales had drawn first blood with their momentous victory over England. "This isn’t a time for any knee-jerk reaction," Ritchie told a news conference. "This isn’t a time to rush into things, it’s a time for calm, rational, considered reflection about what can we learn, how can we move forward, what can we do to improve. And we’ll only do that in a calm, considered and rational manner." The 2003 winners' failure to advance beyond the group stage for the first time left a "sense of deep disappointment", Ritchie said. "The first thing that happens next is that there’s a game next week against Uruguay and we need to focus on that," he added. Last year the RFU handed Lancaster and his coaching team new contracts until 2020, with Ritchie saying at the time that England "are lucky to have a talented, committed and passionate coaching group". Lancaster, who became permanent head coach after initially taking over from Martin Johnson as interim boss following England's poor showing at the 2011 World Cup, said his immediate focus was on Uruguay. "The accountability and responsibility lies with me. Family is a big thing, also what’s right for England and what’s right for the team. All that will come into the equation, but 12 hours after the final whistle, that’s not for now,” he told reporters. "All things are being considered, but not for now for me. I sat in front of the management team at the hotel and said we’ve got a game to play on Saturday. I need to get the team ready to play Uruguay on Saturday and that’s my priority." Reflecting on the defeats against their Pool A rivals, Lancaster said: “Looking back, I think the Wales game -- being 22-12 up 60 minutes, 50-odd minutes in and then not to come away with a win -- really put us under pressure in this particular game. In this game it was small margins and big consequences." (Reporting by Justin Palmer; Editing by David Goodman)