ROBSHAW STILL REGRETS
CHRIS ROBSHAW admits he is still haunted by the decision which cost England any chance of winning the Rugby World Cup on home turf.
The former Red Rose captain this week confirmed he is to leave English rugby at the end of the season for a two-year spell playing in the USA.
He will depart Harlequins still troubled by the memory of his decision to point to the corner instead of the posts when England played Wales at Twickenham in the 2015 World Cup. With three minutes left and trailing by three points, a penalty goal from 30 metres would have forced the draw and kept England firmly in contention.
Instead Robshaw went for broke, England’s lineout was easily repelled, the game was lost and within a week his team had crashed out of the competition. Asked for the highs and lows of an international career which brought him 66 caps, 42 as captain, Robshaw said both had come in that same tournament five years ago.
“It finished badly, unfortunately, but to lead the guys out in that first game in a home World Cup representing my country – I could not have been prouder,” he said. “In terms of regret it would come down to that Wales game and not giving us the opportunity to have a shot at goal.”
Robshaw took immediate responsibility for a decision which denied Owen Farrell a shot at the sticks. “That call comes down to myself,” he said at the time. “It was a tough kick, we weighed up the options, we wanted the win. The two mauls before, we made good ground and we thought if we got in a good position we could go for a win.” It did not pan out that way and England became the first tournament host ever to crash out in the pool stages. “In sport, it is a roller coaster and there has been challenging times,” conceded Robshaw, who will swap the Stoop for California when he joins San Diego Legion. “Of course I’d love to have another shot. You always want one more. You’d give it all up in a heartbeat to do it again, to run out in front of 80,000 playing for your country, maybe even against the Welsh!”