Ian McGeechan part of England World Cup inquest

SIR IAN McGeechan and Ben Kay will sit on the Rugby Football Union panel appointed to review England’s dismal World Cup showing, the governing body has announced.

Sir Ian McGeechan. Picture: Getty

McGeechan, the former British and Irish Lions and Scotland coach, and 2003 World Cup winner Kay are among the five men who will conduct the inquest into the failure to reach the knockout stage for the first time in the nation’s rugby history.

Also present is former Football Association chief executive Ian Watmore and Ian Ritchie, who holds the same position at the RFU.

Completing the quintet is professional game board chairman Ian Metcalfe and they will make their recommendations to the RFU Board upon conclusion of England 2015.

Details of the review have finally been released 16 days after England were knocked out of the World Cup by a record 33-13 defeat by Australia at Twickenham. The hosts’ involvement in the tournament also spanned 16 days.

The scope of the review will be to assess preparation and performances and the effectiveness of the coaching, management and support team. It will also consider all feedback given by relevant stakeholders.

“While the RFU will be focussing on continuing to deliver a fantastic tournament over the next two weeks, it is hugely disappointing not to have progressed through to the knockout stages,” Ritchie said.

“With that in mind, we have begun to review the senior team’s campaign to ensure that we learn and improve from this experience in order to be consistently successful.

“There will be extensive input from players, coaches and management staff, as well as an external perspective gathered.

“The details of this feedback will remain confidential, with recommendations then made to the RFU board.”