England were a huge disappointment at last year's World Cup

England have reacted to their failure at the 2008 World Cup by announcing a seven-point plan to improve their performances in the Test arena.

The plan is headed by the introduction of a new elite training squad of 25-30 players, with the aim of giving the stars more time to train together.

The Rugby Football League will form an England A side and improve the sport-science support for the team.

And a revamped Academy set-up and coach development system will also come in.

The elite squad will meet four times a year with the players enjoying access to better facilities, although there will not be the central contract system used by, for example, England's elite cricketers.

Billed as the best-prepared team ever to leave the UK, England travelled to Australia last year with high hopes of ending their long wait for success on the international stage.

606: DEBATE Is an elite player squad, an England A side and better sports science the answer to the problem? Phil H - BBC Sport

But the campaign proved to be a huge disappointment with a humbling 52-4 defeat at the hands of Australia and two losses to eventual winners New Zealand doing little to improve the southern hemisphere's perception of English rugby league.

Amid rumours of a split in the camp between the Leeds and St Helens contingents, England failed to gel as a team with only a solitary win over Papua New Guinea to enjoy.

The RFL conducted a review after the tournament, taking feedback from the players and coaching staff.

The findings of the review conceded that there were distinct social groups among the squad in Australia but added: "the players said these did not affect team performance".

And the report also recommends a new player development pathway and a better system for agreeing the appointment of match officials and confirming the finer points of interpretation of the laws.

RFl executive director Richard Lewis said the review had uncovered various shortcomings in the preparation for the World Cup.

"They all took responsibility for their performances - there was no blame culture," said Lewis.

A talking point has been the relationships between Leeds and St Helens players but there was no evidence whatsoever that it affected the performance of the team RFL executive chairman Richard Lewis

"They all said the preparation was good but they could have had more time together for bonding and getting to know each other.

"The world 'bonding' was used a lot along with a desire for more time for practising and training, particularly on defensive systems.

"A talking point has been the relationships between Leeds and St Helens players but there was no evidence whatsoever that it affected the performance of the team."

And Lewis defended the appointment of head coach Tony Smith, who will now lead England on a part-time basis after taking over at Warrington.

"We recognise there are certain things in the World Cup which we would have done differently but at the time everyone felt things had been done right," he said.

"Tony was absolutely the right man for the job and still is. The poor results reflect on us all."

Three new appointments to cover player development, coach development and human performance will shortly be made and the RFL is also to bring in two full-time academy coaches.

RFL director of performance and coaching Jon Roberts, who examined British sporting success stories like cycling and rowing before coming up with a plan for rugby league, says the aim is to improve standards both for the 2013 World Cup.

"It's a long-term process," he said. "It won't happen overnight because have to change the system."

England, who are next in action in the Four Nations tournament in the autumn, are ranked third in the world, behind both Australia and New Zealand.

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