England ’ s fourth Six Nations runners-up finish in succession has been labelled ‘ unacceptable ’ by RFU chief executive Ian Ritchie with head coach Stuart Lancaster told his side ’ s performances must improve in time for the World Cup . Lancaster ’ s men suffered championship heartache on Saturday as their thrilling 55-35 victory over France at Twickenham – watched by a record audience of 9.6 million on terrestrial television audience – saw them fall six points short of securing a Six Nations first title since he was appointed in 2012 . Instead , his side had to settle for yet another second-place finish in their last competitive tournament before September ’ s World Cup , and Ritchie expressed his displeasure at the overall outcome . Another Six Nations runner-up spot for England is unacceptable , RFU chief executive Ian Ritchie has said . Ritchie feels Stuart Lancaster 's men can win the Rugby World Cup despite their Six Nations second place . ‘ Four years as runners-up is not acceptable and we are not happy with how that came about , ’ he said . ‘ If you go back through history , bearing in mind a lot of things , we should be , as a country , winning more in terms of Grand Slams , Six Nations championships , other things . ‘ We had opportunities . ‘ Let 's be clear – entirely in our control . The Irish deserved the win because of what they did over the five matches . We did not do enough over the five matches . There 's no point in bleating about it . ‘ We simply did n't take opportunities , did n't do what we should have done , were not clever enough during parts of the game in order to deserve to win. ’ England finished second to Ireland by a difference of six points , just falling short of top spot . Chris Robshaw was left devastated after his side ended up being Six Nations runners-up again . Robshaw shakes hands with Referee Nigel Owens at the end of theSix Nations match at Twickenham . England ’ s coaches were badly hamstrung by injuries in the build up to the tournament , with 11 players ruled out of their opening win over Wales in Cardiff and first-choice stars Manu Tuilagi , Joe Launchbury , Ben Morgan and Owen Farrell absent for the duration . That resulted in the emphasis being placed in youngsters such as George Ford , Anthony Watson and Jonathan Joseph with Lancaster and his staff keen to highlight the depth that has emerged . ‘ We 're developing , this is a development opportunity ' – I do n't take that , ’ Ritchie added . ‘ I do n't think we 're in a development phase . ‘ We should be going into every game , doing our utmost to win and to win well . We 've got the resources , the talent , the ability . Saturday was a fantastic example of that . ‘ We 've got to make sure we come out for the World Cup and deliver. ’ Jules Plisson , Robshaw , Loann Goujon and Luther Burrell all challenge for the ball at Twickenham . Courtney Lawes is helped up by Benjamin Kayser at the end of theSix Nations match .
Ireland finished second to England by a difference on just six points . That was despite a heroic 55-35 win over France on Saturday . Rugby Football Union chief executive Ian Ritchie deems it unacceptable . But Ritchie maintains Stuart Lancaster 's men can win the World Cup .