Stuart Lancaster timeline: from England’s new broom to Rugby World Cup disaster

Charting the three years and 11 months of Stuart Lancaster’s tenure, including his first match, the uplifting victory over the All Blacks at Twickenham in 2012 and the Sam Burgess fiasco

RFU must act soon over England World Cup flop, says Mike Ford

The Rugby Football Union has been warned that urgent action must be taken to restore confidence in the England setup as the post-World Cup mood grows increasingly ugly

English rugby’s flawed structure puts coach at a disadvantage

The RFU’s review of Stuart Lancaster’s position is all very well, but will it address some of the fundamental issues affecting the nation’s game?

Rugby Europe starts its push to engage with tier one union nations

Rugby Europe has started its push for the likes of Romani and Georgia to engage with tier one rugby union nations

England have to ask if the Premiership is the right place to develop Test players

Stuart Lancaster had good players at the World Cup but few great ones – where is the Martin Johnson of today, the Jonny Wilkinson, the Lawrence Dallaglio?

Rugby World Cup 2015: our readers’ team of the tournament

When we polled our readers for their players of the tournament, we expected the All Blacks and Wallabies to dominate. The results are in – and we weren’t wrong

Victorious All Blacks return to New Zealand for Rugby World Cup celebrations

Captain Richie McCaw lauds ‘amazing’ welcome as thousands of fans gather in Auckland to cheer team

Steffon Armitage angry at overseas pair an England distraction claims

Steffon Armitage said he is insulted by suggestions that he or Nick Abendanon would have been a distraction if selected in England’s World Cup squad

How did the All Blacks improve on perfection? Simplicity and honesty

New Zealand were already world champions but Steve Hansen and his coaching team demanded, and delivered, even more to retain the Rugby World Cup

World Rugby starts task of spreading the word according to Gosper

Brett Gosper, World Rugby’s chief executive, follows 2015 World Cup with a campaign using the 2016 Olympics to develop the game in Russia and China

Grounded again: Charlie Line back in school, and out of the spotlight

The teenager handed Sonny Bill Williams’ World Cup medal will not be posing for any more photos, say parents

Rugby World Cup 2015: Guardian writers’ teams of the tournament

New Zealand ruled and Argentina and Japan thrilled, but who has made the starting XV’s for our rugby writers who covered the tournament?

Rugby World Cup 2015: Tom Jenkins’s photographic highlights

After six weeks and filing around 2,000 images from 19 matches, we present a selection of the Guardian and Observer’s Tom Jenkins’s favourite shots from the tournament

New Zealand dared and won but game of rugby was another winner at World Cup

After beating Australia in the final, the All Blacks are perhaps the greatest team of any code on the planet but on the future of emerging countries and the complicated rules must be addressed

Rugby World Cup 2015: Guardian writers give their verdicts

Who was the best player, who scored the best try, which teams disappointed and inspired, what was the funniest moment and what must change for Japan 2019?