England's most disappointing XV since 2000

The XV varies from players who never got a chance to those who did but underperformed when their opportunity came.

Read on to see who we selecte:

The full-back, who can also ply his trade at fly-half, earned international recognition with England in 2012, making his Test debut against South Africa and has since gone on to earn 21 caps and represent the Barbarians.

Named Premiership Rugby Player of the Season in 2015/16, Goode excelled in 2018/19 as Saracens won the double and was recognised for his displays by being voted European Player of the Year. Despite this stellar form, an England recall never came.

The 2013 British & Irish Lion is poised to sensationally quit Wasps in order to pursue a lucrative career in the NFL, having grown disillusioned with rugby union.

The speedster had been one of the most recognised names in the domestic game, but his continued absence from the international set-up – having won just one England cap on the 2013 tour of Argentina – had left him frustrated and fed up of continuously being overlooked. What a waste.

Making his debut against Wales, when the then-18-year-old was repeatedly dumped by Welsh centre Gavin Henson is infamous. That day would set back Tait’s development significantly, but he still played in the Rugby World Cup in 2007. After a quiet tournament, Tait lit up the final against South Africa with a dashing break that led to Mark Cueto’s infamously disallowed try.

But if Tait’s footwork in the final demonstrated his talent, he was never able to demonstrate that consistently on the biggest stage. Shifts from outside centre, to wing and then to full-back stunted his progress and were indicative of a possible star whose versatility worked against him ultimately.

We've shifted the versatile back to the midfield to accommodate him in our selection. Selected for the 2009 Lions' tour of South Africa, a player of Monye's talent should have won a lot more than 14 caps for his country. He's now smashing it as one of the best rugby pundits on TV.

The Gloucester legend was always a fan favourite and narrowly missed out on selection for the 2003 World Cup, despite being involved in the all-conquering England team that dominated in the southern hemisphere during the 2002 Autumn Internationals.

Although heralded as a potential world-class wing, injury constantly blighted his career and numerous England head coaches looked to other options ahead of him. He ended his career with a pitiful 10 caps, but it could have and should have been so much more.

Despite his incredible talent, it now looks like he's set to hang up his boots with just 19 caps to his name. His omission more often than not was related to off-the-field incidents, which makes his disappointing time in the England shirt all the more frustrating. A once in a generation talent.

England had very strong depth at scrum half during the best years of Clive Woodward’s reign, with Matt Dawson, Kyran Bracken and Andy Gomarsall being the three scrum halves named in the World Cup squad. However, Wood was called up as an injury replacement but never actually made the official squad. In his entire career he only ever played twice for England.

The now pundit for ITV, BT Sport and Channel 5 speaks a very good game but his opportunities at international level were not forthcoming. He won his first full caps as a replacement in the Tests against South Africa on the summer tour in 2000 but never really established himself as the first choice, finding himself behind Graham Rowntree in the pecking order. Winning just eight caps between 2000 and 2002, the Bath legend would probably walk into Eddie Jones latest squad.

The versatile forward joined Harlequins in 2012 from Cornish Pirates, a side he made more than 100 appearances for. It was during the 2013/14 season that Ward rose to fame with his electric form. Claiming five Man of the Match awards and becoming the pioneer of countless turnovers, he was the 2013/14 Players’ Player of the season.

His efforts were rewarded by being named in Stuart Lancaster’s England squad for the 2014 tour of New Zealand, but he only played in the mid week win over the Crusaders.

Despite the good early promise in his career, he spent most of his time in England colours being turned upside down in the set-piece and being battered backwards in contact. He only won six caps.

The Newcastle and Saracens legend, who made 245 Premiership appearances, won a deserved first England cap against Canada in the Investec Challenge match in 2004 and scored a try as captain. However, shockingly, this would be the only full test cap he’d ever win.

The lock, who can also play at blindside flanker or number eight, took an unconventional route to the top and developed his craft in Australia before spending seven years at Leicester. He was desperately unlucky not to win a full cap for England during a successful period at Welford Road, where he was called up five times, that saw him become a big favourite.

He’s now still rucking away down at Gloucester but was once again snubbed by Eddie Jones in favour of younger players.

Tipped to be a future England captain by Eddie Jones after making his international debut in the Aussie's first match in charge, Clifford's career was ravaged by injury. Winning just 10 caps, the back-rower was forced to retire in August 2020.

Gloucester stalwart Hazell had the unenviable task of filling the retired Neil Back’s shoes.  We can assume that Robinson’s thought process was, “He’s small, he’s aggressive, he’s just like Neil Back”, but unfortunately it didn’t really work out like that.  Making his international appearances exclusively through 2004-05, Hazell became known as a bit of a penalty machine during his seven caps.

The powerhouse, who won just five caps, was considered to be one of the best players in the world in 2015 due to his technical ability at the breakdown and his capacity to win a high number of turnovers each game.

Given the English national team's lack of players with the then Toulon mans skill set, many experts have argued that the 'exceptional circumstances' clause in England's policy banning overseas based players should be invoked to allow the triple European Championship winner to represent England.

However, they didn't, and he never played for England again.