Stuart Lancaster’s final five England debutants, where are they now?

Regrettably, despite his utmost dedication, England stumbled and were eliminated in the pool stage, making it the first occasion in the tournament's history that a host nation failed to progress to the knockout stages. This misfortune came about following defeats to Wales and Australia.

Nonetheless, within Lancaster's perceived shortcomings, some of the last players to make their debut under his leadership flourished and have since ascended to great heights, contributing significantly to Eddie Jones' triumph in securing two Six Nations championships.

However, it is important to mention that one player has since retired from the sport, while another is still awaiting another opportunity to represent the national team.

Let us now delve deeper into the profiles of the five most recent players who earned their debut under Stuart Lancaster's tenure with England.

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On 10 August, Burgess was named in the England Elite Squad to make his International début against France at Twickenham on 15 August, in a warm-up match for the Rugby World Cup. He started the game which England won 19-14.

Following his appearance where he was sin-binned, World Cup winning English scrum-half Matt Dawson commented: "You can't take him to the World Cup for me. He played 80 mins and credit for that. But the way the game went in the second half there was nothing for him to do. The great thing about Burgess is he doesn't make mistakes with ball in hand. But unfortunately, if you're going to be really picky, positionally he wasn't great. He played like a six rather than a 12. There are things that are instinctively he doesn’t know what to do."

Dawson's comments came before Lancaster named Burgess as one of four centres to represent England in the World Cup. His inclusion and performances at the World Cup were widely scrutinized, and seen by some pundits as partly to blame for England's "humiliating" early pool stage exit from the tournament—the worst result for a sole host nation in the tournament's history.

On 5 November, Burgess made the decision to leave rugby union, opting to return to South Sydney Rabbitohs, signing a three-year contract, approximately worth $1.5m AUD per season.

The now 29-year-old flanker made his England debut when he started against France on 15 August 2015 in the build-up to the Rugby World Cup. This would be his only cap to date, however, the flanker has enjoyed considerable success with club side Saracens.

Henry made his senior debut against France at Twickenham, before earning a spot in England’s Rugby World Cup 2015 squad, where he featured in their final game against Uruguay - scoring a try.

Further caps followed for the 6ft 2in versatile back: Fiji and Argentina in November 2016, and a Six Nations outing against Italy in February 2017.

Henry impressed on tour to Argentina in the summer of 2017, starting both matches, and faced the same opposition in the autumn internationals, claiming his second try against Samoa. In 2018 he was called up again to the summer tour where he started all three matches against South Africa, and again in early 2019, for all of England’s Six Nations fixtures.

Henry recovered from injury to make the 2019 Rugby World Cup squad and came off the bench in the final. Recently, Slade was included in Steve Borthwick’s training squad for the 2023 World Cup.

Luke Cowan-Dickie was a member of England’s 39-strong training squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup and made his Test debut against France at Twickenham Stadium soon afterwards.

A former prop at England age grade levels, he won his second Test cap against Wales in March 2016 came on the same weekend when his elder brother Tom wore the No.2 shirt for England Counties. Luke played the final 12 minutes of the 2016 Grand Slam-clinching win over France in Paris and was part of the England squad that reached the 2019 Rugby World Cup final. Truro-born Luke studied Sports Performance & Excellence at Truro College, having previously attended Mount’s Bay School.

He developed his game while on loan from the Chiefs at Plymouth Albion. He began playing when six with Penzance & Newlyn, remained there for eight years and already has captaincy experience with teams at school, at the Pirates and at Truro College, as well as Cornwall U16.

After 18 consecutive appearances for England from the bench, Jamie George made his first international start against Samoa at Twickenham Stadium in November 2017.

Educated at Haileybury and the son of Ian, a former Northampton Saint, London Welsh and Barbarians scrum half, Jamie made his Test debut off the bench for Tom Youngs against France in August 2015.

His first Rugby World Cup appearance was against Uruguay two months later and he started all three Tests for the British & Irish Lions against the All Blacks in New Zealand in 2017. In 2019 he was part of team that progressed through the Rugby World Cup starting in final against South Africa.

George scored a try on the occasion of his 50th cap against Italy in 2020, and was recently included in Steve Borthwick’s 26-player squad for the 2023 Guinness Six Nations.