Maro Itoje takes the positives from his first game as England captain as pressure continues to grow on Steve Borthwick after defeat to Ireland
England’s new era under Maro Itoje began with more misery after Ireland scored 22 unanswered points in a second-half blowout in Dublin.
The pressure continues to grow on Steve Borthwick after he watched his team slip to their seventh defeat in nine Tests.
England face the daunting challenge of France next Saturday and they have a week to lick their wounds after losing their grip on a half-time lead.
Clutching at the positives after his first game as captain, Itoje said: ‘I thought the first half was fantastic. We did pretty much everything we wanted to. We lost territory, though, in the second half and struggled to exit. It is hard to dissect what the reason is right now but it was a territory thing.
‘It was a tremendous honour to captain this side. I grew up watching and wanting to play for England. But it is not really about me. Hopefully next week we can be better. We fought to get a losing bonus point at the end and that was admirable. This is a tight competition and every point matters. I am proud of us tonight.’
Borthwick admitted his side came up short but promised an improvement at Twickenham next week. ‘We want to win every game and we didn’t today but we have made progress,’ he said.
Maro Itoje stated he was proud of England against Ireland following his first game as captain
Pressure is continuing to grow on Steve Borthwick after England lost 27-22 to Ireland
England have to bounce back when they face the daunting challenge of France next Saturday
‘Ireland are such an experienced team and have been world class for so long – it was a tough Test match and that experience showed in the third quarter. We gave them field position and scoreboard pressure in a critical period. But I am very proud of the way the players attacked the game in the first half and how they came back to score a couple of tries to get the bonus point.
‘It is hard to quantify. We started the second half with a lot of energy and effort but against one of the best attacking teams in the world the team improved defensively. But ultimately we came up short and that is disappointing. We will ensure we are better next week against France.’
