England 62-3 Uruguay
by Adam Brown
at Eastlands

Stuart Lancaster praised the England fans after his side cruised to a comfortable 62-3 win against Uruguay in their dead-rubber match on Saturday to complete their disappointing Rugby World Cup campaign.

England had already become the first hosts to depart at the pool stages after defeats to Australia and Wales but Lancaster was left delighted by the fervent support for his side.

“I thought the crowd were brilliant and stuck behind the lads from the moment we walked off the bus to the end of the game.

“It’s been a tough week for the players, the boys are hurting, but this has given them a big lift and confidence to know the country is still behind them, which is important going forward.”

Lancaster said his future was yet to be decided, though admitted that the frustration of the tournament “will be there forever.”

The England head coach watched a laboured first half, though was pleased by a marked improvement in the performance thereafter, with seven unanswered tries following the interval.

“Uruguay took at bit of breaking down but I think we got there in the second half and scored some great tries.

“Overall we put some good shapes together, our attack was cohesive and there were some good skills out there.”

Nick Easter claimed two simple first-half tries on his way to becoming the oldest scorer of a Rugby World Cup hat-trick, at 37, before a new-look England back line took centre stage.

With the amateur Uruguayan team visibly tiring, there was some increasingly confident running and handling from England, with effervescent Exeter man Jack Nowell also scoring a hat-trick.

There were two tries for Anthony Watson on the left wing, and a single try for Henry Slade on his England debut, to the delight of club teammate Nowell.

“It was a bit of fun towards the end — the big thing was to enjoy the game today and go out on a positive.

“It was nice to see Slade on the scoreboard as well, he definitely deserves his chance.”

The backs’ performances, particularly with Slade and Jonathan Joseph as the centre-pairing, made several selections calls earlier in the competition look like mistakes.

Joe Launchbury once again had another highly effective game up front, as England finally got their rolling maul functioning effectively, with Uruguay unable to ever put England under any pressure, despite holding their own in the scrum and breakdown.