Despite presiding over a fourth successive runners-up finish in the Six Nations, coach Stuart Lancaster is convinced England can win the Rugby World Cup.
The men in white ran in seven tries to beat France 55-35 at Twickenham on Sunday, falling just short of the required 26-point victory target required to claim the championship ahead of eventual winner Ireland.
Lancaster's attention was quickly turned to RWC fortunes, and he was bullish about his side's chances.
"We're definitely still capable of winning the World Cup. This season we've beaten Australia, we've beaten Wales and we've put 55 points on France," Lancaster said.
"New Zealand we've beaten before and we pushed them close in the summer series, so absolutely [we can win the World Cup].
"Against France you could see the influence the crowd had on the players. Playing at home is a huge factor.
"And we'll have a good three months inside us after a World Cup camp where we can work on our cohesion."
England have extended to five matches their triumphant run at Twickenham, where all but one of their RWC pool games will be played.
Lancaster understands the role the 82,000 crowd will play when the global showpiece opens against Fiji in September.
"Absolutely Twickenham is a fortress now. I thought the crowd against France were fantastic," he said.
"They gave us energy from minute one and never lost heart or belief, even when we went behind.
"You literally felt in that driving maul at the end that there were 82,000 people pushing the players over the line."
England do face a tough route to the quarterfinals though, with Pool A by the far the trickiest of the five pools, with Wales and Australia also in there.
"Wales are a very good team, as are Australia, so it's going to be high stakes when those games come around," Lancaster said.
"The margins in the games between the three teams will be crucial and perhaps the other games you play in the pool will be a factor in it as well.
"Even Fiji first up is going to be a big challenge because they'll have all of their best players available and they've had a three-month training camp leading into it."
In mid-May England are will name a wider squad of 45 players for a summer training camp.
