News: A number of leading players in the England team that reached last weekend's World Cup final said yesterday only some hard-hitting crisis meetings saved their tournament.

Yesterday's Daily Telegraphnewspaper said four senior players, whom the paper does not name, have revealed the meetings were necessary after England's poor run-up to the tournament and unimpressive start in the pool stage.

"They were painful meetings involving players swearing, shouting and threatening the coaches and the managers and telling them to 'do some . . . work' but without the meetings, England would have failed," said one unnamed player.

Another unnamed player added: "Everything about England was wrong in those pool games. There was an incredible amount of confusion - all the coaches were giving different advice and all seemed to be involved in selection so different players were selected all the time."

Another described coach Brian Ashton as "being like a frozen rabbit in the headlights" as he watched the chaos around him.

England started the World Cup with a narrow win over the US, before losing 36-0 to South Africa, but they improved as the tournament went on and made it to the final, which they lost 15-6 to the Springboks. The Daily Telegraphcommented: "Their words paint a fascinating portrait of a team in utter disharmony, on their knees and dying in the biggest rugby tournament . . . before being hauled back to their feet by the players themselves."