England's last Pool A game against minnow Uruguay in Manchester next weekend has turned into an encore, but for all intents and purposes the host has been dumped from its own party, the biggest and potentially best Rugby World Cup.
Oliver Holt in London's Daily Mail led the charge for the head of Lancaster who is contracted with England until the end of the next World Cup in Japan in 2019.
"Few can escape censure for the shambles this campaign has become, certainly not Stuart Lancaster," Holt wrote on the Mail's website just after the final whistle in Australia's 33-13 win. "In selection, in particular, Lancaster has lacked conviction. The England coach never seemed to know what his best team was and his indecision damned him and undermined his players."
The Mirror continued the tabloid focus on England's beleaguered coach.
Describing England's performance in a huge headline titled "Shambolic display", rugby writer Andy Dunn wrote it was not an "impossible" for Lancaster to be retained at the helm.
"There is no escaping the brutal truth that this ranks as one of the most crushing disappointments in recent English sporting history," he wrote. "And boy, there have been a few.
"Those recriminations will come harder and faster than Australian loose forwards. The bullseye on the target will be the coach. It is impossible to see how Lancaster - long-term contract or not - can survive this.
"Elimination at the group stages of the Word Cup on home soil is one of English sport's biggest humiliations."
Read more: England v Australia: As it happened
But it wasn't just the red-top tabloids after Lancaster's blood.
The respected Times of London noted it was inevitable Lancaster would come under huge pressure from here.
"The recriminations will begin and there will be calls for Lancaster and his coaching team, who have contracts through to 2020, to be replaced. For the England players, meanwhile, it will be all about regret," wrote rugby correspondent Alex Lowe.
Steve James followed suit in the Daily Telegraph, telling his readers: "It is a quite horrific embarrassment and the inquest will undoubtedly be extremely messy. Head coach Stuart Lancaster will now come under enormous pressure."
Lancaster accepted the consequences before the match if England didn't get out of its pool for the first time.
He said: "I understand where the accountability and responsibility lies, and it is with me."
Post-match, he looked a dejected figure.
"Gutted for all the fans and all the people back home. I don't know what to say because everyone has out in so much effort and the support has been fantastic. I'm sorry I let everyone down."
His decision before the Wales match to suddenly change his inside backs, and thus his game plan, smacked of panic and backfired, but there was little Lancaster and his side could have done against the Wallabies, who took their chance to snap up a quarterfinal berth, and lifted Wales with them.
England's scrum, a weapon in previous contests against the Wallabies, was blunted, and the potential weak link of Kurtley Beale on the left wing after Rob Horne went off injured after 10 minutes, was exploited only once in the face of brilliant Australian defence.
Lancaster is likely to lose the job only if he resigns. He won't be pushed. He's highly regarded by the English Rugby Union for reinvigorating the team after the debacle at the 2011 Cup, and putting pride back into the white jersey. Last year, they gave him a six-year contract extension to 2020, including the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
He said after the match the decision on whether he will continue as head coach was out of his hands.
"It's not up to me. I just want them to put in a good performance up north next week against Uruguay."
He didn't deliver results - England has finished second in the Six Nations in each of his four years in charge - but it was accepted this team would be better equipped for a crack at the 2019 title, than this one. Even RFU rugby director Rob Andrew admitted that.
But the pressure of being the hosts caused Lancaster to lose his nerve in selection, and the Sweet Chariot has never swung so low.
- AP and NZ Herald
