Six Nations: England over heartbeak, ready for Ireland – Maro Itoje
DUBLIN — After several, painful, near-misses, England are ready to get the job done against Ireland in Dublin on Saturday, according to their new captain Maro Itoje.
You got the sense from Itoje on the eve of their Six Nations opener that this team are bored of talking about the matches that got away from them last year. Since England beat Ireland in last year’s Six Nations, they lost six out of eight and failed to score a point in the last 20 minutes in four of those defeats.
England had a tendency of leading the match heading into the final quarter, only to fall to a series of heartbreaking narrow losses.
But Itoje and England are wanting to change that narrative.
“I think what 2024 has shown us is that despite the results not going our way, I think if you were to watch the games, most people would see the potential of the team,” Itoje said.
“As players, we believe in what we’re doing, we believe in what we’re about and now our part of the bargain is to get over the line. Our job as players is to now get the job done.
“Ultimately that comes down to taking advantage of the opportunity. In games you have a finite amount of chances and they are valuable chances and if you don’t take your chances then you’re not going to win. At this level against the opposition we’re playing at the weekend you need to take your chances when they come because they’re not going to come very often.
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Relive three classic Six Nations games between Ireland and England ahead of the 2025 tournament this weekend.
“When those moments come you have to be brave enough to grab it and you have to have the skill and execution to get that done. Probably in addition to that, it’s about trying to deny as many opportunities as you can to the opposition. The best teams are able to take their chances and deny the opposition.”
Part of Steve Borthwick’s decision to hand the captaincy to Itoje ahead of this Six Nations was the second-row’s engine — he usually plays the full 80 minutes, whereas the former skipper Jamie George was routinely substituted around the hour mark. That final quarter will be one area of England’s focus on Saturday, while they have also been finetuning their set piece.
It is expected Ireland will target England’s lineout on Saturday. Borthwick went for three fetchers in the back-row, leaving out a lineout specialist like Ollie Chessum in the process. Ireland see that as an area of opportunity, but Itoje said England have a plan up their sleeves for Saturday.
“They have got a good lineout, they have always had a good line out so that is no biggie,” Itoje said.
“Our team, we are built differently and want to go about the game a different way. Obviously set piece is massive for us as well and I think we will do well.
“We have enough lineout jumpers. The lineout obviously is a massive part of the game and I think we have a well-oiled machine. If we were to have a look at our statistics over the last autumn, it is an area we are pretty strong in terms of ball winning.”
Borthwick is renowned for his lineout expertise. It was one of his areas of excellence as a player and he has carried that into his coaching.
“He trains it in unique ways, putting us under pressure and I think it is going to be, if we do our job, we need to make we do our thing, we will win it.”
Itoje will lead out England for the first time on Saturday afternoon. He said he will park any moments of self-reflection for another day and won’t let the significance of the occasion get to him.
He won’t pre-plan what he’s going to say as his final words of encouragement in the changing room, but he will draw on examples set by leaders he admires. He has spoken about his admiration for pioneering Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah, the importance of religion in his life, while he’s also drawn inspiration from figures in basketball and football.
“In terms of leaders I’ve looked at in admiration in the past, there are several. I’m a reasonably big basketball fan and especially the older generation, so I look at the way people like Magic Johnson went about their business.
play1:15Simon Easterby ‘looking to put his own stamp’ on Ireland
ESPN’s Tom Hamilton believes Ireland’s interim coach Simon Easterby will be looking to “put a marker down” as a head coach in the lead-up to Ireland’s Six Nations game against England this Saturday.
“The obvious ones were people like MJ [Michael Jordan] and Kobe [Bryant], but even others like Hakeem Olajuwon. He had a different style to people like Michael and Kobe, but his form of leadership, as I observed, was exemplary.
“In a UK context, I was a big Arsenal fan and Patrick Vieira had a massive presence about him. English wasn’t his first language, but just from his stature, his physique and the way he walked around the place, he exuded confidence.”
For England, the whole tone of their Six Nations campaign will be defined by how they play on Saturday. If England win, they’ll carry momentum into hosting France next week. But if they’re defeated, then the pressure will be on to halt this poor run of form against Les Bleus. England head to Dublin as underdogs but are quietly confident of upsetting the hosts.
“When people write you off, it always gets the juices flowing a little bit. Whether it’s in sport, or I don’t know, when my teachers didn’t give me my expected grades and predicted me to get lower grades than I eventually got, or something like that. It always gives you a little bit of extra motivation and, I guess, a bit more anticipation for what you can do and what you can achieve.
“You have to give the opposition respect. You see their strength and you acknowledge where they are good. But I like to think, whenever you play any team, you don’t put them on a pedestal. They’re a very good team full of very good players and have obviously done work very, very well, the last two Six Nations, especially at the Aviva [Stadium].
“They’re a good team but this is just a great opportunity for us to play Ireland and we believe in ourselves. We believe in our team, we believe in what we can do. It’s just our job to go and do it.”
Analysis:
play2:06Steve Borthwick and England need to ‘deliver’
ESPN’s Tom Hamilton and James Regan join Mark O’Connor to discuss England and head coach Steve Borthwick ahead of their Six Nations opener against Ireland this Saturday.
Simon Easterby said he was surprised by England’s back-row choices on Thursday, but added Borthwick’s call to go with Tom Curry, Ben Curry and Ben Earl (minus a lineout specialist like Ollie Chessum) also offers Ireland “opportunity.” So with Tahdg Beirne, James Ryan and Ryan Baird all in the Irish pack, there’s no doubt they’ll be going for England’s lineout.
England have been warned.
Alongside finetuning their defence, ensuring they don’t drop off in the final 20 minutes and playing with a touch more punch in attach, England will be doing all they can to ensure their setpiece is watertight.
England have fallen foul to a Peter O’Mahony masterclass in the past in that area, but with the Irish great out of the picture this weekend, it’s up to Ryan, Baird and Beirne to wreak havoc. Itoje and Borthwick possess a huge amount of lineout nous, and they’ll be focused on ensuring that’s one area where Ireland won’t have any joy. But the pressure’s on to find that precision.
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Source: espn.com