All Blacks: Mealamu's sympathy for England after Rugby World Cup exit

All Blacks hooker Keven Mealamu. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Keven Mealamu, a man who has endured more than his fair share of rugby lows during his career at the Blues, has sympathy for England following their World Cup failure.

The hosts have failed to exit their pool following their 33-13 thrashing at the hands of Australia at Twickenham, a defeat which has the knives out for coach Stuart Lancaster, who last year renewed his contract until 2020. Whether he makes it that far is extremely doubtful, with former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio one big name suggesting today he should resign immediately.

All of this might seem a little familiar to veteran All Blacks hooker Keven Mealamu, who has played during the troubled coaching reigns of Pat Lam and John Kirwan, and he responded accordingly when asked today whether he felt for the England players.

"Big time. It's never easy exiting a World Cup, no matter when you exit it," he said. "You understand what they're going through as a rugby player. When you have those downs ... you work a long time for it and you want to go further into the competition."

The All Blacks watched the match over dinner following their late arrival in Darlington, a rural town in the north east of England, a 45-minute drive south of Newcastle, where they will play Tonga on Saturday morning NZT.

England v Austrlaia highlights

Their flight from Cardiff was delayed by several hours which meant they missed the start of the match, but it wouldn't have taken long for them to get a feel for what was going to happen.

Tactically deficient and, most surprisingly of all, physically not up to it, the men in white somehow battled back into the match only to let it slip as the Wallabies ran riot.

"Their scrum was probably the biggest thing, to be honest," halfback Aaron Smith said.

"Seeing what they did to England's scrum was massive. They look really clinical and some of their tries were typical of the Aussies - set moves - and they did that well."

Tonga will present the All Blacks with their final pool match ahead of next Sunday's quarter-final in Cardiff. Any All Blacks watching their next opponents play Argentina today would have seen a skilful and inventive side ground into the Leicester City Football Club pitch by the huge Pumas pack, the South Americans winning 45-16 to also qualify for a quarter-final place.

The All Blacks are expecting a physical encounter from their South Pacific cousins, but the Argentine battering rams would have left them as tenderised as a Buenos Aires steak ahead of the match at St James' Park, the famous home of the Newcastle United football team.

One of the more revealing halftime interviews happened in the television studio, with ITV presenter John Inverdale asking former No8 Dallaglio about Lancaster's future.

Lancaster, Inverdale opined, was a man of humility and grace, but did Dallaglio think he should resign? The answer was short: "Yes".

- By Patrick McKendry in Darlington