Chris Robshaw is preparing for a week of "tough questions" after England's early World Cup exit was confirmed by Australia.
A 33-13 defeat at Twickenham means England have lost two of their three Pool A games and cannot now qualify for the quarter-finals of their own tournament no matter what happens against Uruguay ext week.
Stuart Lancaster's side are the first hosts not to reach the knockout stage, and the head coach said in the aftermath of the game he would now consider his position.
Captain Robshaw expects similar doubt to be cast over his own future, and he said: "I think this week we're going to have to answer some really tough questions."
England briefly threatened to make a game of it as they rallied from 20-3 to 20-13 only for the Aussies to pull away when Owen Farrell was yellow-carded.
Robshaw told ITV immediately after the game: "It's tough. As a team we're gutted. It's tough, we started to build a little bit of momentum. Unfortunately we left ourselves a little bit too much to do.
"We thought we'd built a little bit of pressure but credit to their defence - they put us under pressure."
He later added: "We feel we have let the country down today and over the course of this tournament - they have given us so much support.
"It was the best atmosphere to play in and unfortunately as players we didn't quite get there. So we apologise to them, and credit to Australia as well. I think they played well today.
"I am just gutted."