The ghosts of the Rugby World Cup will still be hovering over Twickenham when England gather for their competitive return this week. For Chris Robshaw and others, as they await the visit of Ireland this Saturday, it will be impossible to avoid the occasional flashback to those successive autumn weekends when the host nation's hopes and dreams were so abruptly curtailed.
Robshaw may no longer be his country’s captain but he accepts there can be no ducking England’s failure to progress beyond the pool stages.
"Whenever you speak about the World Cup you'll always remember what happened. You've got to remember it. It'll always be a big part of what myself and the other players went through – but it's a new game, it's a new tournament and if you allow that [the World Cup] to hang over you, it's going to affect you."
The opening two weekends of the Six Nations have seen a subsequent upturn in England fortunes but it will only be when Robshaw and his colleagues run out at Twickenham against the defending champions that the full extent of their post-World Cup recovery will be accurately gauged.
They will be back in familiar surroundings in every sense, with any number of St George-themed hoardings and motivational messages supplanting the more neutral autumn World Cup backdrop.
‘England branded’
“The changing room and everything will be England branded . . . it will feel like our place again,” Robshaw, right, says. “Was that a factor in the World Cup? Who knows but it is fantastic playing there.”
How the Twickenham crowd reacts will be interesting. The blind faith of the World Cup has been replaced by a introspective mood, mixed in with a desire to see England fulfil potential. Robshaw hopes the majority will be realistic enough to accept there is little point crying over spilt milk.
"I think they will be excited about seeing England back at Twickenham. During the World Cup I don't think we've ever experienced support and noise levels quite like it, from getting off the bus to going into the stadium, to running out for the national anthem, warming up and playing. People we speak to are so excited about this Six Nations. Hopefully we can build on our first two games and make sure our first display at home shows the crowd how we want to play."
With only one defeat in their last 11 Six Nations games, however, England's collective priority is to avoid the damaging slip-ups that consistently cost them titles under Stuart Lancaster. Guardian Service
