Wynne Gray: Sweet chariot ride turns sour as wheels fall off old banger

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 03: Sam Burgess of England tackles Michael Hooper of Australia during the 2015 Rugby World Cup Pool A match between England and Australia at Twickenham Stadium on October 3,

Four more years. It was a sarcastic taunt to the All Blacks after their 2003 World Cup exit and a campaign banner for coaches Clive Woodward and Graham Henry.

It's a massive question facing English rugby once again after their exit from this tournament was confirmed by a comprehensive defeat to the Wallabies.

Coach Stuart Lancaster and his lieutenants Graham Rowntree, Andy Farrell and Mike Catt are contracted until the end of the 2019 World Cup in Japan.

There may be out-clauses in those deals for their England employers who will be dealing with widespread public scorn and criticism after the hosts were swept out of their tournament yesterday.

Is it wise to push on with Lancaster, his vision and his troops in the hope of success in Japan in 2019 or is it far more judicious to call it quits now and appoint new staff?

England went down the repeat path with Woodward and triumphed in extra time in 2003 with a very powerful side before Henry persuaded New Zealand to follow suit and scraped in by one point in 2011.

Both Woodward and Henry's sides were beaten in the quarter-finals of their first campaigns but Lancaster's squad, the most heavily resourced in the nation's history, have not even made it past pool play.

They got a tough draw but World Cups are where the best survive and England flunked that exam far too readily.

Whichever way you dice it, England's premature exit was soft.

Some of the views about Lancaster and his coaching credentials fall into the same category - a good man with fine values who is too nice for the spicy edge of test rugby.

Lancaster unpicked much of the tatty old covers around recent English rugby campaigns as he looked to build a new group with the ultimate dream of a 2019 World Cup triumph.

He had buckets of money, stacks of players to choose from, the staff he wanted and RFU backing for his plans.

However, long-term does not cut it when the public are paying big bucks to ride the chariot and watch successive defeats at Twickenham.

Wales was a close, controversial loss before the Wallabies cut them up.

Skill and finishing yesterday beat boof and bash. The Wallabies brought athletes to the stadium while England picked huge men who were half a metre off the pace.

Slabs of rugby flesh such as 37-year-old Nick Easter were competing against the spirit and dexterity of David Pocock and Michael Hooper.

Easter replaced a slow tread tank Ben Morgan, who had taken over from the injured and equally massive Billy Vunipola.

What's that old saying about "it's not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog"?

The five-eighths shuffle with George Ford in game one then Owen Farrell in game two spoke of coaching uncertainty. Sam Burgess, a midfield player after such a short time in rugby - really?

England are creating an ugly pattern of not getting out of pool play at cricket, football and now rugby World Cups while other nations with fewer resources go deeper into the playoffs.