Ellis - We let ourselves down

Second rower concedes England were simply not good enough

Last updated: 17th November 2008

Ellis - We let ourselves down

Ellis (L) in action against New Zealand's Lance Hohaia

It was a massive disappointment. We've performed well under our expectations and capabilities.

Gareth Ellis
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Gareth Ellis has admitted England let themselves and their fans down with a series of below-par performances at the World Cup.

Tony Smith's side crashed out of the tournament on Saturday as they lost to New Zealand for the second time in two weeks, but on this occasion it proved terminal as the Kiwis won the semi-final match-up in Brisbane 32-22.

England produced a spirited showing, but their efforts were undermined by a host of handling errors and defensive blunders that characterised a disappointing campaign.

With just one unconvincing victory over minnows Papua New Guinea to show from their four matches Down Under England have come in for some harsh criticism and Ellis accepts that they underperformed in a big way.

"It was a massive disappointment. We've performed well under our expectations and capabilities," the second rower stated.

"We weren't good enough at the end of the day. We came up with the kind of errors you don't normally see and they put us on the back foot."

Ellis himself endured the double disappointment of missing a large chunk of the semi-final defeat to New Zealand after being forced off seven minutes into the second period with a rib injury.

"It was one of those things," he continued. "It was disappointing not to come back on, especially when your team is behind in the semi-finals of the World Cup.

"You don't know if you are going to get the chance to play in another one."

By the time the hooter sounded to confirm defeat, Ellis admitted that he and his shattered team-mates wanted to drag themselves straight off the pitch, however, he admitted the players felt a responsibility to acknowledge the support they had received with 6,000 England fans having made the trip for the semi-final.

"Ideally you just want to get in the dressing rooms and hang your heads, but we owed it to the fans," he said.

"Regardless of how we've performed on this tour, we appreciate the fact that they've come all this way to support us.

"We've let everybody down. Our expectations were definitely to be in that final."

New career

Former Leeds Rhino Ellis will now stay on in Australia as he prepares to begin his career with NRL outfit Wests Tigers.

Having been on the end of two losses to New Zealand as well as a 52-6 mauling by hosts Australia with England he is all to aware of the need for improvement on a personal and team level in the months ahead.

"I've just got to make sure I'm playing well enough to be picked in the England team for next year," he added.

"It's probably made me realise what a tough challenge I've got ahead of me, how I need to improve as a player. Similar to the team, I need to improve personally.

"I'll have three of four weeks off and just get away from rugby for a bit and then get back into it and rip into my new challenge."