Maro Itoje relishing Ireland clash

Maro Itoje says that England have placed an emphasis on togetherness as they aim to make the most of their less-experienced side than usual for the visit of Ireland.

The Saracens second row, 27, said he was relishing a clash against an Ireland team that was getting harder to play against with each tournament.

He said: “I think every Ireland team is strong, but year-on-year they’ve been improving and getting better and I think they’re progressing really well.

“I always love playing Ireland, they’re a talented team, they’re probably one of the teams in the Northern Hemisphere that’s had some of the best performances over the last five years.

“I enjoy the challenge and everything that comes with it.”

Cohesion has been a prominent theme this week, with Eddie Jones calling Ireland “the most cohesive side in the World”, and Itoje’s second row partner Charlie Ewels adding that it would be impossible to match that cohesiveness in the England squad, owing to the number of clubs England get their players from.

But Itoje praised the togetherness of the squad, and said that it played a key role in them making up for having slightly less experience than they have typically had as a group.

He added: “This team doesn’t have as many caps as previous England teams, but we’ve done a lot throughout this Six Nations to work on how tight we are as a group.

“Despite the total number of caps we have as a team, I think we’ve made up for that gap with how close we are on the pitch and how much we’ve enjoyed each other’s company.”

Having led 17-10 after 65 minutes against Scotland and going on to lose, 17-0 against Wales after 53 minutes and winning by just four points, and only scoring one try in the last 35 minutes against Italy, some have questioned England’s second-half performances.

But Itoje did not put the issues in those periods down to fitness or game management, rather the way the games had ebbed and flowed, and said it was part of the progression of the relatively new-look team.

He said: “I think it’s just the way the games have gone.

“Of course as a team we want to sustain pressure throughout the game, we don’t want to let teams back in.

“But I think that’s part of the evolution of this team and what we need to do to move this team forward.”

By NICK POWELL