2007-2008
Ashton's first game in charge was the Calcutta Cup match against Scotland in the 2007 Six Nations Championship. England won 42–20, Jonny Wilkinson scoring 27 of England's points. The next fixture was against Italy at Twickenham, which England won 20–7. England's third match of the tournament was against Ireland, at Croke Park. Ireland won 43–13, their biggest ever victory over England and the most points England had ever conceded in a Five/Six Nations match. England's inconsistency continued over the final two games: a 26–18 win over tournament favourites France at Twickenham — their first victory over France since the 2003 World Cup — was followed by a 27–18 loss at the Millennium Stadium to Wales, who were struggling to avoid the wooden spoon.
England's preparations for the defence of their World Cup title were equally mixed. Ashton was deprived of many first-choice players for the short mid-year tour to South Africa, which saw England suffer two heavy defeats, 58–10 and 55–22. This was followed by a 62–5 win against a weakened Wales side and two losses to France, at home and away on consecutive weekends.
England's World Cup defence started with an unconvincing 28–10 victory over the USA. A 36–0 loss to South Africa in the second pool game left England facing the prospect of becoming the first defending champions to be eliminated at the pool stage. But wins against Samoa and Tonga ensured qualification for the quarter-finals as pool runners-up.
In the quarter-finals, they faced Australia, who started as favourites, but England's forwards dominated the game, which England won 12–10, all the points being kicked by Jonny Wilkinson. Later the same day, France overcame tournament favourites, New Zealand, to set up a semi-final meeting with England.
England took an early lead in the semi-final, after a fumble from French fullback Damien Traille enabled Josh Lewsey to score a try, and they hung on to win 14–9.
In the final, England faced South Africa for the second time in the tournament. Unlike the first game, the final was a tight contest, in which neither side managed to score a try, though England wing Mark Cueto came close, only to be denied after a review by the television match official. Percy Montgomery kicked a penalty to give South Africa the lead, and the Springboks managed to stay just ahead throughout the game, which they won 15–6.
With senior players such as Jason Robinson, Lawrence Dallaglio, Mike Catt and Martin Corry having retired, the 2008 Six Nations saw England fail to maintain the momentum from the latter part of their World Cup campaign. They threw away a comfortable half time lead to lose the opening game 27-18 to Wales, before recording a less than convincing 23-19 victory over Italy. Hopes were raised again as France were beaten 24-13 in Paris, but this was followed by a 15-9 defeat to previously winless Scotland in a tryless Murrayfield encounter. This ended English title hopes for another year, and Wilkinson was dropped for the final game with Ireland, after having become international rugby's record points scorer. His replacement Danny Cipriani had an inspired first full game, helping England to a 33-10 win which gave them second place in the standings, their best finish since 2003 despite an inconsistent campaign.
Read more about this topic: History Of The England National Rugby Union Team