England were diabolical. They played like a team in reverse rather than a team desperate to retain their world title. They scored most of their points when the valiant Americans had a man in the sin-bin, they looked like a true Test rugby team only for a short period either side of half-time and in the first and the final quarters they were almost a rabble, bereft of flow and rhythm, bereft of a strategy and even bereft of a common purpose. And this on the day when both New Zealand and Australia dispatched their opponents with frightening ease.

Even more bad news is to come. In the first half, Phil Vickery, the England captain, took what was nothing less than a sly hack at Paul Emerick, the American centre who had burst away dangerously on the interception. Emerick wrong-footed Vickery and the England man simply cut the legs from Hercus from underneath him with a horrible lunge. It may have been something of a reflex action but it was horrible and it took Emerick a long time to recover his composure.

It is absolutely impossible to imagine that Vickery will not be cited. The citing officer, Steve Hinds of New Zealand, has 48 hours in which to deduce if there is a case to answer. Vickery faces exclusion from the vital match against South Africa on Friday and if the judicial commission judges that it was indeed a hack at an opponent, then Vickery could clearly be missing for longer than that.

There were just a few flashes of form from the England forwards, but they could never quite make up their minds whether or not they were simply attempting to steamroller the American pack, and even though Andrew Sheridan made a mess of Chris Osentowski in the scrums, there was no massive England authority until the final quarter, and the American lineout also drifted along at somewhere near parity.

The game of Shaun Perry and Lawrence Dallaglio around the fringes was strictly nonelectric, and although both Olly Barkley and Mike Catt showed some clever touches, there was a lot that was ham-fisted and a lot that was on the point of embarrassing. It was also alarming that England’s bench did not actually come on sounding the bugles like the old days of the Fifth Cavalry.

England were so lacking in rhythm and accuracy in the first half that it was almost impossible to believe they had been training for the World Cup. Some of their passing would have shamed a junior team and there were some horrendously scrappy attempts at attack. It must be said, however, that America were far more tenacious opposition than either Italy or Japan proved in the earlier games, and in the wonderful centre Emerick – wonderful at least until he was sin-binned for an outrageous dangerous tackle on Barkley late on – and Todd Clever they had real heroism. Their endurance and fitness lasted longer than it has in pervious World Cups and it just needs an injection of confidence and cash for them to become contenders.

Indeed, it was only at the end of the first half when Vaha Esikia was in the sin-bin that England looked in the least dangerous, and they scored both of their first-half tries when their opponents were depleted. This struck nobody as poetic justice, since Vickery was clearly fortunate not to be in the bin and, indeed, fortunate to be on the field at all.

When Eskia was absent, England clicked into what was recognisable at last as a forward gear. Their strong runners such as Dallaglio, Simon Shaw and Jamie Noon had been well held, but England finally found space when Josh Lewsey took a loose ball, carved up the defence in some style and found Tom Rees to take the ball on. After the recycle, Catt chipped high to the unguarded American corner and Jason Robinson gathered and scored at his leisure.

Soon afterwards, another break by Lewsey set up the second try. Barkley had been sharp and he scored after Lewsey and Catt had made inroads, Ben Kay having given a deft final pass. The match ended as a contest in the early stages of the second half. Sheridan broke away out of a driving maul, took half of America with him and although a potential scoring pass from Shaw to Mark Regan was knocked down, England regrouped and at a subsequent tap penalty Rees went hurtling away on a determined burst, the television match official correctly deducing that he had reached the line. It was 28-3, but sadly for those with an investment on England, they returned to dilly and dally mode. Until well into the final quarter America were still competing, and England were still fumbling.

Indeed, had Salesi Silka found more support around him on either of two striking runs, America could easily have scored a try. England tried to revive themselves in the final quarter with replacements, but the Americans had by far the better of the last 10 minutes or so and had suddenly found conviction. They pleased the crowd no end by kicking for touch from penalties rather than at goal, and in one attack they were held up short on three occasions inside a few seconds.

However, they had been stopped illegally and Dallaglio went to the sin-bin. In his absence, Matekitonga Moeakiola, a man mountainous in name and build, battered his way from short range to score a richly deserved try which the valiant Hercus converted.

England launched one late attack just to show us that they were still interested in the match, but the hunched shoulders and solemn expressions on the final whistle showed exactly what they thought of themselves.

The answer was not much. All in all, this was one of their worst performances since the 2003 World Cup and my word, that takes in a few howlers.

At least America did not go the way of Italy and Japan, but in the splendid Stade Felix-Bollaert, and in front of tens of thousands of England supporters, it was exceedingly difficult to tell which was the minnow and which was the (faded) world champions.

England:M Cueto (Sale); J Lewsey (Wasps), J Noon (Newcastle), M Catt (London Irish, A Farrell (Saracens) 63min), J Robinson (unattached, M Tait (Newcastle) 66min); O Barkley (Bath), S Perry (Bristol, P Richards (London Irish) 59min); A Sheridan (Sale), M Regan (Bristol, G Chuter (Leicester) 63min) P Vickery (capt, Wasps, M Stevens (Bath) 63min), S Shaw (Wasps, M Corry (Leicester) 63min), B Kay (Leicester), J Worsley (Wasps, L Moody (Leicester) 68min), T Rees (Wasps), L Dallaglio (Wasps).

Tries: Robinson 35, Barkley 40, Rees 48 Cons: Barkley (2). Pens: Barkley (3)

USA:C Wyles (Northampton); S Sika (Beziers, V Malifa (Belmont Shore) 52min), P Emerick (Newport), V Esikia (San Mateo), T Ngwenya (Dallas Athletic, A Tuipulotu (San Mateo) 67min); M Hercus (capt, Belmont Shore), C Erskine (Waterloo); M MacDonald (Leeds Carnegie, M Moeakiola (Park City Haggis) 59min), O Lentz (Maryland Exiles, B Burdette (NYAC) 51min), C Osentowski (Belmont Shore), L Gross (Doncaster), M Mangan (Denver Barbarians, H Mexted (St Louis Bombers) 69min), T Clever (OMBAC), H Bloomfield (Belmont Shore, I Basauri (Massy) 58min).

Try: Moeakiola 74 Con: Hercus. Pen: Hercus

Yellow cards: England:Dallaglio (74min). USA: Esikia (29min), Emerick (80min)

Referee: J Kaplan (South Africa). Attendance: 36,755