Where to begin? From Six Nations champions to talk of the tabloids, 2011 certainly hasn't been an uneventful year for English rugby.

When England lifted the Six Nations trophy in March, few would have predicted that by the end of the year Martin Johnson would be out of a job and their worldwide image would be in disrepute. Sports Mole takes a dwarfs-and-all look at a surreal year in English rugby union.

Six Nations

All eyes were on Martin Johnson as he prepared for the 2011 Six Nations, his second in charge of England.

Hoping to build on their third-place finish in 2010, England got their campaign off to a flying start with a 26-19 victory over Wales at the Millennium Stadium. Two tries from swan-diving winger Chris Ashton, backed up by the now-familiar boot of Toby Flood, sent Wales reeling and put England on course for a comfortable 59-13 win over Italy the following week.

Next up was Le Crunch, which England won relatively comfortably 17-9, with France only managing to notch up three penalties from Dimitri Yachvili.

Now on a roll, England hosted Scotland at Twickenham in the fourth round. They were made to work hard by the Scots, but came away with a 22-16 victory. Whispers of Grand Slams drifted around the country.

All they had to do to win their first Grand Slam since 2003 was travel to Dublin and beat Ireland. All the momentum was with England, but the Irish came out fighting and rained on England's parade.

Not yet winners, the English had to wait until the final match of the day before they could lift the trophy. Wales had a mathematical chance of taking the title, needing to beat France by 27 to do so, but in the end Les Bleus triumphed 28-9. England were champions.

Summer

Hoping to build upon their Six Nations success going into the 2011 Rugby World Cup, England organised warm-up Tests against Wales - home and away - and Ireland.

First up was Wales at Twickenham, where England managed a narrow 23-19 win, before losing the return match 19-9. They then travelled to Dublin and got their Six Nations revenge with a comfortable 20-9 victory.

The results were marred by news that captain Lewis Moody had suffered a leg injury against Wales and would likely miss at least the opening games of the Cup. One Mike Tindall was named as captain in Moody's absence.

Rugby World Cup

England started their campaign against a hungry Argentina side. Their 13-9 victory over the Pumas was followed by 41-10 and 67-3 drubbings over Georgia and Romania respectively. Their final pool stage game was a tight battle with the Scots, which England narrowly won 16-12.

Sitting atop of Pool B, England faced their old enemies France in the quarter-finals. France's pool campaign was a stormy affair, and many saw England as favourites to progress. To the surprise of many, France came out of nowhere to seal a 19-12 victory and send England home.

However, that was not the full story. England experienced mild controversy early in the campaign when lock Courtney Lawes received a striking ban and Martin Johnson was criticised for allowing players to go bungee jumping.

It was the night of their victory over Argentina that problems really arose for England. Mike Tindall was caught on camera embracing a 'mystery blonde' on a night out with some of his teammates. The story made headlines across the world and Johnson was quick to defend his captain, quipping: "Rugby player drinks beer, shocker."

As further details and speculation surrounding the incident emerged, England found themselves in a web of controversies. From dwarf-tossing to alleged sexual harassment of hotel staff, from wearing the wrong mouth-guards to jumping off a passenger ferry, it was one thing after another for the team.

By the time they returned home, England were portrayed in a very bad light in the national press. Calls for Martin Johnson to resign began to emerge.

Aftermath

With the media picking apart England's woes, the RFU was quick to assert their authority over what had happened in New Zealand. First, they ordered an independent review of the furore and then threatened to impose national team bans on any players found guilty of misconduct.

They pounced on Mike Tindall, who was fined £25,000 and removed from the England team. James Haskell and Chris Ashton were also fined for misconduct.
Then came the news that many had anticipated. On November 16, Martin Johnson announced his resignation as head coach.

"I've given this a huge amount of thought since returning from the World Cup and even before that," Johnson told reporters. "It is in the best interests of myself and the England team that I don't carry on into next year."

With speculation rife over who would replace Johnson, English rugby was hit with another bombshell when a review ordered by the RFU was leaked to The Times newspaper. In it, players were accused of being more interested in money than results and Lewis Moody was accused of leading a rebellion amongst players over the team's pay. Johnson was also criticised for his lack of coaching experience and failing to control the situation in New Zealand.

With things dying down going into December, the RFU announced that it would be appointing an interim coaching staff for the 2012 Six Nations. On December 8, Saracens head coach Stuart Lancaster was announced as temporary coach of England.

A few days later, Johnny Wilkinson followed suit with fellow home nations legends Shane Williams and Chris Paterson in announcing his retirement from international rugby. The 33-year-old finished his career in the white jersey as England's leading points scorer, with 1,115 from 91 Tests.

In light of the stormy second half of 2011, it is easy to forget that England won 10 of their 13 Tests and captured the Six Nations trophy this year. With a new coaching setup in charge of turning things around for England, here's hoping that they make the headlines for the right reasons in 2012.