Tony Smith, the England coach, received a vote of confidence from Richard Lewis, the RFL executive chairman, within an hour of a miserable semi-final exit - a third successive defeat in a tournament that went from bad to worse for England. Smith, who has a year to run on his contract as coach and the game's technical director, said that he would not walk away from the job.

“It's definitely a setback,” Lewis said of England's early departure from the competition. “It would be silly to pretend otherwise. But I don't think it's much more than that. The current crop of players did their best, but have come up short and we have to learn from that.

“We also have to look at the bigger picture. We have to look how we can produce the next generation of players who can deliver, and the next generation of coaches. I think it's a fairly wide issue. We've made some steps in the right direction - licensing for example will allow Super League clubs [14 from next season] to invest in young British talent and give them a chance, if they are good enough.”

Smith conceded that the free-flowing game encouraged in the engage Super League may be at odds with the need to be competitive at international level. “It's entertaining and there are no complaints about the style,” he said. “Whether it's the right style to compete at international level is something we're all going to have to discuss at some stage.

“We have to decide what's more important - to entertain the crowds or become No1 in the world. At some stage that question needs to be asked, and it's not for me to make the sole decision on that.”

However, Lewis felt it would be wrong to adapt the wrestling method prevalent at the play-the-ball in the NRL. “The sport is growing in popularity rapidly in England because it is exciting to watch. I don't want us to move away from that. It is a fundamental principle. We have to look at and think through what we have to do to be successful at international level, but not at the expense of Super League,” he said.

“I feel very strongly that we mustn't slavishly follow the way the Australians play the game. We have to look after our own sport. We have to get more people playing the game, and we are succeeding in doing that. A lot of good things are happening, which haven't been reflected in this tournament, and we need to find out why.”