The Daily Telegraph's' Paul Hayward talks to England coach Graham Rowntree about his experiences after the infamous World Cup campaign.
"So, Graham, how does it feel to be the last man standing? There is no answer, but then a smile. “Thanks. I’m so proud,” he finally says. But before pride there was a kind of grief.
Graham Rowntree is describing the bleak hours when England’s Rugby World Cup team touched down from New Zealand: “When we landed, for the first time in my life I felt ashamed. Ashamed of being a part of it. We got back on the Monday and I didn’t go to pick the children up from school for a few days, or drop them off, because I didn’t want to see anyone.
“I didn’t want to see friends who know what job I do, or mates in rugby. I just wanted to stay away from people.” The only England coach to escape condemnation by England’s players in those infamous leaked World Cup reports, Rowntree is now happily embedded in a three-man caretaker regime for the Six Nations Championship, alongside Stuart Lancaster and Andy Farrell."
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