Ashton keen to keep going

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Ashton recovered from a stuttering start to the tournament to steer England through four successive wins that earned them a shot at becoming the first side to retain their title against South Africa.

England could not pull off that feat but Ashton would welcome the task of overseeing the overhaul of an ageing squad: "It won't be my decision and we will see," he told BBC Radio Five Live's Sportsweek.

He added: "I need to sit down and talk it through with a variety of people. I love the job, and, on reflection, I would rather stay than not but it's not my decision."

Ashton is justifiably proud that England, written off as no-hopers after a 36-0 hammering against the Springboks, rallied so strongly.

"No-one gave us a cat in hell's chance after the South Africa defeat but we pushed them right to the wire in the final," he said.

"The better team always wins and we take our hats off to South Africa. They have been consistent throughout the tournament and they deserved to be world champions but we are bitterly disappointed because we felt we had a strong chance of winning the game."

Ashton dismissed the controversy of Mark Cueto's disallowed 'try' adding: "The fact is it wasn't a try because the video ref said it wasn't and that's it.

"As for what difference it would have made you just don't know. We could have got the try and still lost the game. We had a couple of chances after that but we were not clinical enough."