Why Stuart Lancaster's England have little chance of winning the 2015 World Cup England's dominance ahead of the 2003 World Cup has been trumpeted loud and clear during Lancaster's recent five defeats, but the ill omens for success next year are thrown into sharp focus by Woodward's overall win rate of 71 per cent. One statistic circulated after England's defeat by South Africa at the weekend was that, during the five defeats, Lancaster's side scored on six occasions from 19 visits to their opponents' 22. New Zealand and South Africa scored nine times from 17 visits between them. That suggests a lack of attacking nous in the final third compared to the world's best. Comparing the current England crop to previous vintages shows Lancaster's men to, again, be way off Woodward's sides - 2.2 tries per game versus Woodward's excellent 3.9. In both attack and defence, Lancaster's England can be bracketed along with Johnson's and Ashton's sides. What becomes apparent is that all England sides over the last 17 years have enjoyed similarly solid defences - suggesting that while successful teams are built on defence, it is attack that will usually win tournaments. Andy Robinson's England scored a respectable amount of tries per game, but those results are skewed slightly by the 12 scored in a 70-0 win over Canada. In Lancaster's defence, Johnson's tries per game is distorted by a 10-try rout of Romania in September 2011 - not that it helped him, he lost his job weeks after. Coach Pts for Pts against For per game Against per game Tries for per game Tries against per game Stuart Lancaster 2011- Martin Johnson 2008-11 Brian Ashton 2006-08 Andy Robinson 2004-06 Clive Woodward 1997-2004 Given the metronomic ability of Jonny Wilkinson to kick between the posts, it is perhaps a little surprising that the successful conversion rate of Lancaster's team is identical to that of Woodward's, and better than Johnson, Ashton and Robinson's teams too - three out of four conversions made is the going rate for Lancaster's side. But if there is one thing that Woodward and Wilkinson will know, it is the value of a dropped goal. And Lancaster's England have completely neglected that side of the game, scoring just three dropped goals in 32 games, compared with Woodward's 26 in 83. The chances of Owen Farrell emulating Wilkinson's World Cup-winning effort at the Telstra Stadium in 2003 appear slim on this evidence. coach Conversions per game Converted try rate Pens scored per game Games per dropped goal Let us face it, equally slim are the the chances of Lancaster's England emulating Woodward's heroes at all. This evidence points to an underwhelming World Cup performance, with a side more reminiscent of those of Ashton and Johnson, firmly in the second tier of the international game. Home support at next year's tournament could help, but here is much 'developing and learning' to be done, and not a lot of time in which to do it before England's first match against Fiji in 10 months' time.