Rugby Football Union chief executive Ian Ritchie has described England's failure to win the Six Nations as unacceptable.

Stuart Lancaster's side finished runners-up for the fourth consecutive year on Saturday following a dramatic final round of fixtures.

England missed out on the title to Ireland on points difference despite earning a 55-35 victory over France at Twickenham Stadium.

Having fallen short of winning the tournament yet again, RFU chief Ritchie has not held back on where he believes that England are going wrong.

"Four years as runners-up is not acceptable and we are not happy with how that came about," he is quoted as saying by Sky Sports News. "If you go back through history, bearing in mind a lot of things, we should be, as a country, winning more in terms of Grand Slams, Six Nations championships, other things.

"We simply didn't take opportunities, didn't do what we should have done. We were not clever enough during parts of the game in order to deserve to win.

"'We're developing, this is a development opportunity' - I don't take that. I don't think we're in a development phase. We should be going into every game, doing our utmost to win and to win well. We've got the resources, the talent, the ability. We've got to make sure we come out for the World Cup and deliver."

England get their Rugby World Cup campaign underway on September 18 when play Fiji at Twickenham.