Eddie Jones by no means turned Maro Itoje to captain his nation throughout his eight years as England coach. Now, the longest serving worldwide coach within the sport, who completed with the best profitable proportion of any man to supervise England, will run his eye over Itoje within the first Check he leads after Jones signed as much as be a pundit for ITV.
If England’s Six Nations marketing campaign wasn’t already fascinating sufficient, with Jones’ former right-hand man Steve Borthwick beneath extreme strain after a poor end-of-year marketing campaign and two underwhelming Six Nations campaigns, the arrival of the proactive Australian will add loads of intrigue and lip service behind the microphone.
Jones will present professional commentary for England’s 5 Six Nations Exams, starting in opposition to Eire on February 2 AEDT, alongside Jonny Wilkinson, Brian O’Driscoll and Maggie Alphonsi.
Nevertheless, these hoping he would grace the screens alongside Clive Woodward will probably be left dissatisfied, with England’s solely World Cup-winning coach ending up with the broadcaster following the 2023 event in France.
Eddie Jones (L) will present professional evaluation on Steve Borthwick’s England Six Nations marketing campaign. (Picture by Dan Mullan/Getty Photographs)
Borthwick enters the Six Nations beneath enormous strain after a disappointing second half of 2024 the place his aspect suffered heartbreaking late defeats to the All Blacks and Wallabies.
However it’s the motion in Borthwick’s backroom over the previous 9 months that has left the Rugby Soccer Union feeling uneasy, with extremely revered assistants Felix Jones and Aled Walters abruptly quitting.
As such, insiders recommend Borthwick wants at the least three wins to maintain his job via to the 2027 World Cup Down Below.
Nor has Borthwick been helped by a latest harm disaster that has seen a number of of his common starters be dominated out of their event opener.
Former captain Jamie George, whose axing from the highest management job rocked the England camp, will miss the journey to Dublin due to a hamstring harm.
Whereas Alex Mitchell, the spectacular halfback, is racing the clock to be match after struggling a leg harm throughout Northampton’s two-point win over Munster.
Borthwick has additionally misplaced the scrum half Jack van Poortvliet (knee), the No8 Alex Dombrandt (calf) and the lock Alex Coles (wrist).
A lot has been product of Itoje’s rise to the captaincy a decade after the Saracens lock led England’s under-20s to the world championship.
England head coach Steve Borthwick (R) and captain Maro Itoje (L) in the course of the launch of the Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship at Spazio Subject in Rome. (Picture By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile through Getty Photographs)
Jones intriguingly by no means turned to Itoje to captain regardless of some apparent management qualities and raised eyebrows when he described the Lions lock as “inward-looking” in his second e-book.
Itoje, who lately accomplished his MBA at Warwick Enterprise Faculty, took a leaf out of Martin Johnson’s e-book by saying he meant to initially lead by motion.
“We regularly discuss nice leaders and what they do, or nice captains, and initially, crucial factor, with none shadow of a doubt, is that you just play properly,” Itoje mentioned because the leaders of the Six Nations gathered in Rome for a pre-tournament occasion. “That’s crucial factor. That’s extra necessary than any speech you may make, that’s extra necessary than any interview that I might give, or how I stroll, how I discuss.
“Individuals take heed to your phrases, however they observe your actions. So initially, that may be a massive precedence for the staff. And secondly, I’d say, in all probability from a staff viewpoint, we have to work more durable. We have to run more durable. We have to be extra collectively and, I assume I’m the captain, nevertheless it’s not simply me.
“Who’s going to be the catalyst of change? It’s all of the senior guys. It’s Jamie, it’s Ellis [Genge], it’s Ben [Earl], it’s Henry Slade, it’s all of the senior guys in our staff, Marcus [Smith], Fordy [George Ford], Fin [Smith], we have to, as a collective, work more durable for the staff and get the fitting outcomes.
“I don’t assume I’ve ever placed on an English shirt and never felt each of these two issues. There’s at all times a component of strain while you play for England, whether or not you’re on the bench within the squad or the beginning 15. However what a possibility, it’s an incredible alternative, and I believe the potential from the final yr, I’ll be first to confess that it didn’t go all the best way we wished. However I believe what’s truthful to say is that one factor we did present was lots of potential.
“Once we did get it proper and once we put patches of our sport, we did present lots of potential. So, there’s a complete load of promise, there’s a complete load of potential for us to grasp, I assume, you recognize, it’s, my position is to assist us realise that.”
