Stuart Lancaster has stepped down as England head coach by "mutual consent", England's Rugby Football Union announced.
Lancaster's departure, three-and-a-half years after his appointment, was expected in the light of England's disastrous World Cup campaign, which saw the hosts eliminated in the group phase.
"I am obviously extremely saddened to finish the way we did in this World Cup and to step down from the role," Lancaster said in a statement released by the RFU.
"As I have always said, I ultimately accept and take responsibility for the team's performance and we have not delivered the results we all hoped for during this tournament."
Lancaster was made permanent coach in 2012 and won 28 of his 46 games, but failed to win the Six Nations.
"I took on the role in difficult circumstances and it has been a huge challenge to transition the team with many hurdles along the way," he added.
"However, I am immensely proud of the development of this team and I know that there is an incredibly strong foundation for them to progress to great things in the future.
"We have played some excellent rugby and it was always going to be tough to get the right level of experience into them in time for 2015.
"It is a young group of players with the huge majority available for the World Cup in Japan in 2019, where I believe their recent experience will make them genuine contenders."
There is no word yet on the future of Lancaster's coaching team of Andy Farrell, Graham Rowntree and Mike Catt.
The RFU will undertake a full World Cup review on November 17.
3 News/AFP
