Woodward's troops have crashed from World Cup winners to the southern hemisphere's whipping boys in the space of six months, reaching their lowest ebb with a 51-15 thrashing by Australia in June.

It was England's second heaviest defeat by the Wallabies and their fourth consecutive loss, a wretched run of form which matched the previous worst under Woodward during the ill-fated 'Tour to Hell' in 1998.

The retirement of seasoned campaigners such as Martin Johnson, Neil Back and Jason Leonard took its toll, as did the failure of Jason Robinson, Jonny Wilkinson and Will Greenwood to tour the Antipodes.

Fatigue was cited as the biggest factor for a disappointing showing in the RBS 6 Nations and the subsequent misery Down Under as many of Woodward's squad had gone 12 months without a break.

Cohen - an England regular since making his international debut in 2000 - has felt the vigours of unrelenting Test match action as much as anyone and had few problems explaining the results this summer.

He said: "There were a lot of lessons learnt from the tour and a few players discovered how tough international rugby is.

"But bear in mind it's been a long couple of seasons and New Zealand and Australia are superb teams.

"We were well prepared for the games. However, you can do all the preparation you want but if you're tired it's going to happen.

"The boys gave 110% and you couldn't ask for any more from them - but they were just worn out.

"You can't replace the experience of people like Johnno and Backy but ultimately the players had nothing left in the tank.''

Woodward was in bullish mood before the tour, declaring England expected to win the three Tests - but his attitude soon changed when it was over.

He insisted the season had been too long and declared his finger would only hover the panic button if England's poor run continued into the Autumn Tests against South Africa, Canada and Australia.

The former British Lion reasoned that he would have a full squad to select from with big names such as Robinson, Wilkinson and Lewis Moody back in the frame. But his declaration has also heaped pressure onto the world champions.

Cohen, however, embraced his coach's sentiments as he said: "Clive is trying to take the pressure off us.

"He's saying let's not over-react to what happened this summer, which is the worst possible thing you can do.

"He has a lot of experience and is saying 'take it easy this summer, chill out and we'll regroup in November'.

"We'll have a full strength side out and whoever is performing well at the time will get picked. We won't be so tired then either.''

With a Lions tour looming on the horizon - the cream of British Isles rugby will depart for New Zealand next May - there is much at stake this season.

Cohen made the last Lions squad but, along with several other players, endured a miserable time as it quickly became apparent he was not part of coach Graham Henry's Test plans in Australia.

It was a dejected figure that returned to Northampton and the 43-cap back vowed he did not want to be involved with the Lions again. But three years later he has had time to reflect on what happened.

"I didn't enjoy the last one. I've just got to look ahead to the next one if selected. Time is a good healer,'' he said.

Henry's man-management skills drew heavy criticism from players and media alike but the Kiwi has managed to restore his reputation with the All Blacks who have gone through something of a revival under his guidance.

Cohen was scathing of the former Wales coach's current success, crediting his assistants Steve Hansen and Wayne Smiths for New Zealand's emergence as world rankings kingpins.

"Graham has two good coaches either side of him - of course he's going to do well with the coaching staff he's got,'' he said.