England 12 - 19 France: We deserve to be going home – Flood

An emotional Toby Flood conceded England deserved to be dumped out of the Rugby World Cup. The Leicester fly-half pulled no punches as he reflected on England’s early exit after a dismal 19-12 quarter-final defeat to France.

England paid the price for a calamitous first half as Les Bleus surged into a match-winning 16-0 lead, which was enough to book a semi-final showdown with Wales.

In stark contrast, Flood and his team-mates have started to return home, where their clubs are preparing for a fortnight of LV= Cup action.

“It’s just shocking that we are going home but we don’t deserve to be here because, ultimately, we didn’t stand up to be accountable,” said Flood. “We can’t hide behind a facade – we are incredibly frustrated and disappointed. It’s important we realise that, in these games, we have to engage our brains and engage our bodies.

“No-one will know how much it hurts to lose in a quarter-final and not be here for the rest of the tournament until you feel that pain, until you feel that overriding feeling of disappointment. Guys are going to feel that now. We feel like we’ve not only let ourselves down but our travelling supporters too and the fans back home. We can’t hide away from that. Sure, we are professional players and we take our losses and deal with them, but this is something very different because when you lose these games it stays with you for longer.”

England arrived in New Zealand as Six Nations champions and on the back of a confidence-boosting win over Ireland in their final warm-up encounter. Flood had also been at fly-half for England’s back-to-back victories over Australia and he stated before the tournament that a semi-final appearance was the minimum requirement.

“The most difficult thing is that we worked so hard in pre-season with the golden chalice of a World Cup to aim for,” Flood continued. “Guys were literally throwing up on the field, working that hard to achieve something, so for it all to be washed away in 80 minutes – I hope that really drives us on as a team.

“When we saw the draw we thought: ‘Yes, we’ve beaten France this year and yes, we’ve beaten Wales this year, so there was a chance for us. It’s difficult to put into words how hard you’ve worked and how disappointing it is not to achieve your goals.”

The Rugby Football Union will now consider whether Johnson is the right man to lead England into the 2015 World Cup on home soil. Johnson cut a dejected figure yesterday and it was of scant consolation, but he does believe the best days are still ahead for this young England team.

Widely mocked following embarrassing losses and with coach and players openly feuding, France again showed why they should never be written off at a World Cup. They stormed into the lead after tries from Vincent Clerc and Maxime Medard. Two penalties by Dimitri Yachvili and a second-half dropped goal by Francois Trinh-Duc also contributed to the French fans singing “we’re all going to heaven” among the crowd of 49,105 at Eden Park.

England scored second-half tries through fullback Ben Foden and winger Mark Cueto but were never in the match, with only centre Manu Tuilagi emerging with any real credit. Jonny Wilkinson entered the match only six points behind All Blacks fly-half Dan Carter’s all-time record of 1,250. He cut that gap to four before being replaced in the second half but, on this performance, he may not receive another chance to close in further.

The 2003 World Cup-winning star had a match to forget, with passes missing their target, poor options chosen, while even his famed defensive capabilities were below par – being largely at fault for Clerc’s try after missing the winger in a one-on-one tackle in the front line.

Scorers: England: Tries: Foden, Cueto. Con: Wilkinson. France: Tries: Clerc, Medard. Pens: Yachvili 2. Drop Goal: Trinh-Duc.

England: Foden; Ashton, Tuilagi, Flood, Cueto; Wilkinson, Youngs; Stevens, Thompson, Cole, Deacon, Palmer, Croft, Moody, Easter. Replacements: Wigglesworth for Wilkinson (65), Banahan for Youngs (65), Corbisiero for Stevens (49), Hartley for Thompson (56), Shaw for Deacon (49), Lawes for Croft (46), Haskell for Moody (63).

France: Medard; Clerc, Rougerie, Mermoz, Palisson; Parra, Yachvili; Poux, Servat, Mas, Pape, Nallet, Dusautoir, Bonnaire, Harinordoquy. Replacements: Marty for Rougerie (68), Trinh-Duc for Yachvili (53), Barcella for Poux (56), Szarzewski for Servat (56), Pierre for Pape (65), Picamoles for Harinordoquy (72).