Maro Itoje was at the centre of a disagreement with fly-half Fin Smith during England’s 23-18 Six Nations defeat against Italy on the weekend which plunged them into crisis
England were beaten by Italy on the weekend(Image: David Rogers/Getty Images)
Maro Itoje insists there is “no crack” in England’s leadership group following the on-field disagreement that took place against Italy at the Stadio Olimpico last Saturday.
Itoje was involved in a discussion with fly-half Fin Smith and vice captains Ellis Genge and Jamie George early in the second half of the 23-18 Six Nations defeat that has plunged England into crisis.
It centred around a debate over whether to use a penalty to go for goal or set up an attacking line-out and ended with Itoje shouting at Smith, “Don’t argue with me. Take the three”.
England are aiming to end their three-Test losing run when they face France in Paris on Saturday and Itoje says they enter the climax to the Championship without any tension between senior players.
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“There’s no crack. There’s no crack between us. Fin’s a good guy and I get on with him very well,” the team’s captain said.
“When you have good relationships with people you’re able to have those sorts of conversations and are able to move on from it pretty quickly. There was no residue from that. Naturally, I guess because of the loss, it was made into a bigger thing than it actually was.”
Itoje’s forceful delivery of his instruction to Smith was the first time the British and Irish Lions skipper has raised his voice on the field in that way.
“I didn’t really lose it!” the Saracens second row laughed. “You don’t often see me with a mic, I’m not always mic’d up but maybe I’m portraying a false image!
“Fin is my guy. As always, the way I try to do things is I like to hear what my key decision makers think of what is going on, and whoever plays 10 they will obviously have an important role in that.
“I initially asked what we thought we should do and I guess he expressed a view, I expressed a view, and I just wanted to quickly move on to the next thing.
“I actually think it’s a good thing that people in the team feel they can express a view and in sport, if anything, that’s the most kosher of fallouts that the world has ever seen. We have had far more blunt conversations between ourselves and other teammates! There’s no really biggie. After that interaction, we even laughed about it a little bit on the pitch as well.”
England’s squad arrived into Paris on Thursday having spent the previous three days at a training camp in Verona.
Head coach Steve Borthwick has made one change in personnel for the Stade de France showdown by picking Ollie Chessum at blindside flanker, with Sam Underhill dropping to the bench to make room.
Borthwick received a vote of confidence from the Rugby Football Union on Sunday following the latest collapse and has the summer tour to prove he is the right man to lead England to the 2027 World Cup.
