england’s fourth six nations runners up finish in a row has been labelled ‘unacceptable’ by rfu chief executive ian ritchie, with head coach stuart lancaster told performances must improve before the world cup lancaster’s men suffered heartache as their thrilling 55 35 victory over france on saturday saw them fall six points short of overhauling ireland and securing a first title since 2011 but ritchie said: ‘four years as runners up is not acceptable and we are not happy with how that came about we should be winning more in terms of grand slams, six nations championships, other things england are left reeling on the pitch as their 55 35 victory against france failed to secure the title  captain chris robshaw (fourth right) looks dejected after england concede a try to france at twickenham  stuart lancaster (left) and his players ponder a second placed finish for a fourth successive season  ‘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 there’s no point in bleating about it ‘we didn’t take opportunities, didn’t do what we should have done, were not clever enough during parts of the game to deserve to win’ but there was more than a little sense that ian ritchie was playing to his audience at twickenham and not only because the rfu’s affable chief executive quoted hamlet when describing the ‘slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’ he experienced watching the engrossing six nations denouement his public pronouncements were designed to strike a chord with those still uncomfortable with the six year contracts served to england’s coaches last year they were also designed as a shot across head coach stuart lancaster’s bows rfu chief executive ian ritchie (right) chats to lancaster at england's base in pennyhill park in bagshot  ritchie (left) and lancaster talk in the twickenham stands prior to england's clash with new zealand  ritchie, an intelligent and thoughtful man, needed very little pressing to deliver the headline grabbing line that england’s fourth successive runners up spot under lancaster was ‘unacceptable’ often it takes hundreds of questions to extract such strong quotes from a senior figure yesterday it took two it was almost as if ritchie had decided what he was going to say in advance this was no slip of the tongue more a clever piece of brinkmanship designed to keep the pressure on lancaster the aim was also to avoid accusations that complacency has crept into an organisation which has pulled itself back from the brink in the public’s eyes since the dark days surrounding the scandal hit 2011 world cup campaign ritchie, the man at the top of an organisation now delivering everywhere but on the pitch, felt the need to crack the whip just not too hard ‘four years as runners up is not acceptable and we are not happy with how that came about,’ said the former chief executive of the all england lawn tennis and croquet club ‘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 didn’t take opportunities, didn’t do what we should have done, were not clever enough during parts of the game to deserve to win’ england winger jack nowell bursts through for the first of his two tries against les bleus  in six months, the rfu will host a tournament which is predicted to generate close to £1billion for the uk economy success for the home nation on the field is critical for fans, sponsors, media and administrators alike the rfu’s strategic vision, which ritchie helped draw up, decreed that england should head into the world cup with a six nations title under their belt and a world ranking no lower than second for all the brilliance of saturday’s seven try triumph over france, watched by 96million on terrestrial television, they have achieved neither but the natural question if results are ‘unacceptable’ is ‘so what are the consequences?’ surely there is no point having targets if shoulders are simply shrugged when they are not met but, with six year deals secured, the reality is that lancaster and his tight knit coaching team of andy farrell, mike catt and graham rowntree are going nowhere in a hurry ‘it’s quite right in any management to have targets,’ insisted ritchie ‘but they’re not the be all and end all you’ve got to look around at the totality of what’s going on, where we are and what we believe frontline players such as owen farrell (left) and manu tuilagi were unavailable for the six nations  ‘have we missed some targets? well, yes we wanted to win the six nations we wanted to be ranked two in the world ‘we remain confident and optimistic with a belief we can do well at the world cup we remain absolutely confident, happy and committed to the team that we’ve got on the coaching staff’ england were hamstrung by injuries in the build up to the tournament no fewer than 11 players were ruled out of their opening win over wales in cardiff and first choice stars manu tuilagi, joe launchbury, ben morgan and owen farrell were absent for the duration stuart lancaster with his tight knit coaching team of graham rowntree (left), mike catt and andy farrell  that resulted in the emphasis being placed on youngsters such as george ford, anthony watson and jonathan joseph, with lancaster and his staff keen to highlight the depth that has emerged but ritchie, the man in charge of a union which makes more than twice as much money as any other in the world and has access to more players, added: ‘“we’re developing, this is a development opportunity” — i don’t take that ‘we’ve got the resources, the talent, the ability we’ve got to make sure we come out for the world cup and deliver’
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rfu chief executive ian ritchie branded england's second placed six nations finish as 'unacceptable'. the world cup will commence in six months time . the tournament is predicted to generate £1billion for the uk economy . england's seven try triumph over france was watched by 96million on terrestrial television . stuart lancaster was without 11 frontline players for the six nations 