Tom Shanklin's column

To be honest, I still can't really believe that we're back home.

It just hasn't really sunk in that our World Cup is over while there's still a lot of rugby to be played in the tournament.

For us to go out at such an early stage is absolutely devastating for us.

We believed that we were a team that should have reached the quarter-final at the bare minimum.

It wasn't a position any of us wanted to be in, but it's done now and everyone is going back to our regions.

When something happens like that, the best thing to do is get back into it and I think that's what most of the players will want and what most of the players will do.

As for Gareth Jenkins, he gave everything for Wales but it wasn't to be and I can't do anything about that. I feel for Gareth a lot.

The players have got to take a lot of responsibility.

We trained well all week. We didn't train like we played against Fiji at all. We didn't perform and made a lot of individual mistakes.

It was a poor display by the team. Gareth Jenkins can't do anything once the game starts from a coaching perspective, it's down to the players to perform.

I'm not really sure what to expect from the public. We got back on Sunday and I haven't left the house yet.

Obviously the public are going to be disappointed but the players are equally, if not more disappointed, because this is our job.

We didn't perform, we came home way too early. The public needs to know the players are hurting just as much.

We just have to see what happens now with the WRU finding a new coach and try to get on with it the best we can.

A different coach will come in with different ideas so it's about trying to get on with the coach and try to understand him.

It's also sad to see Martyn Williams retiring from international duty.

I've been lucky to play with Martyn for six years and he has been a great player for Wales and a great ambassador for the sport.

Who knows whether Gareth Thomas or Colin Charvis will play again either and for them to go out on a bad performance is probably going to hurt them as much as it hurts me.

I'd love to be around for the next World Cup, but that's a long way off yet.

As for this one, I will try to watch the remaining stages, especially these quarter-finals which is going to be difficult because we should be there.

I still think New Zealand are probably favourites to win the World Cup, but it will be a little bit of a relief if Fiji won it.

Who knows? The French could put up a good show against New Zealand, Australia are looking good and so are South Africa, so I'm going to say a southern hemisphere team will win it.

Source: BBC Sport