Saturday 26 March 2016 11:40, UK
Chris Robshaw has revealed England's Six Nations Grand Slam triumph will never eradicate the awful memories of their disastrous 2015 World Cup campaign.
England completed their first Grand Slam since 2003 with victory in France last weekend nearly six months after they failed to progress beyond the group stage at their home World Cup.
Rosbhaw, 29, took much of the criticism for England's embarrassing tournament and was stripped of the captaincy by new head coach Eddie Jones ahead of this winter's Six Nations.
"When you win something it is always special," Robshaw said. "But the World Cup will always be a part of me and a part of the players who have been through it. It will be a scar on us, and I am sure we will wear it for a long, long time.
"To win a Grand Slam after that, of course it does give you a lift, but that was about this tournament and it does not eradicate what happened because the World Cup is the World Cup.
"But it was just fantastic in its own right to achieve it, and more importantly to win something after being so close in the last four years. Only 12 English teams had won a Grand Slam so it was great to be a part of that.
"You saw the pictures, the beers the guys had together, joking around in the changing room, it makes it such a sweet time that will live with you for a long time."
Hooker Dylan Hartley replaced Robshaw as skipper, but Jones kept faith with the Harlequins forward in his starting XV and set him the target of becoming the best blindside flanker in Europe.
Rosbhaw added: "I was extremely grateful to Eddie for giving me that opportunity to go out there and play and be part of the team. Hopefully I have repaid that and I have been really enjoying it.
"I did not know too much about him. I had heard of Eddie Jones and you look at his CV, what he has achieved, and you hear from other coaches that he works the players pretty hard which he did, but if it gets you the results you are willing to work.
"He came in and he worked us hard but also gave us good times to enjoy each others' company.
"If you look at when we won the championship we had a couple of beers that night, but then it was back to work the following morning and full focus on France.
"He came in and he gave the players and myself that confidence to go out there and achieve it and I think that was one of his biggest attributes."
