"Don't want blind rage" – Maro Itoje will guide England with 'accuracy' against Scotland

Yesterday at 07:18 AM

England captain Maro Itoje is out to lead his team with calm-headed accuracy, as England are set to hit their emotional peak in tomorrow’s Calcutta Cup clash. Itoje will lead his teammates out against Scotland in the third round of the 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations, with the Saracen ensuring that his side wont be entering the Allianz Stadium blinded by rage.

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This fixture has brought about four years of hurt for England, as the Calcutta Cup has remained North of the border since Scotland took hold of the famous piece of silverware in 2021. Scotland have the chance to match their all-time best record against their old Anglo enemy this Saturday, with a ‘five-peat’ run of wins over England never before witnessed in the professional era.

Itoje expressed how he does not want England to hit an emotional peak too early, and have their vision clouded by the latest quartet of Celtic defeats. The lock explained how he needs his team to have a clear focus upon their opponents, with a fine balance of brains and brawn required to outwit and out-muscle Gregor Townsend’s visiting side.

“You probably need a bit of both. You don't want blind rage and you don't want blind, beating-your-chest fury, but you need some of that.” Itoje said, at the England media session. “You definitely need an element of that, but you also need accuracy.

“Rugby is not a game of brute force alone, you need accuracy and you need to have the composure to identify space and execute. Wherever we land in the balance of the two is something that we have to feel, but we definitely need elements of both.”

Itoje is adamant that England have the quality in camp, to bring the Calcutta Cup back to ‘HQ’ for the first time since 2020. Whilst England have long been the vanquished foes tale of Scotland’s fabled national anthem, Itoje wants his men to send their opponents homeward ‘tae think again’, following a win in against their archaic rugby rivals.

“Our recent record against Scotland is something we are not happy about. From our point of view, it's a brilliant opportunity on Saturday to try to change the narrative there and win the Calcutta Cup. It is a brilliant opportunity on Saturday to change the narrative there and get England back to winning the Calcutta Cup.”

“I don't know about the past, but for now this is a huge game for us. This is an absolutely huge game. We are not thinking about anything other than this game. Scotland have had a number on us for a few years and that's something we're not proud about. That's something that we don't like and hopefully on Saturday we can create our own history.”

“It's definitely not what we want (the losing streak). You want to beat Scotland. They have a better record against us in recent times than most nations. That's something we are massively motivated to try to over-turn.”

England found their spark a fortnight ago, as Steve Borthwick’s got over the line for their first win against Tier One opposition, after six previous failed attempts. England rallied for a dramatic win against France in the second round of the 2025 Guinness Men’s Six Nations, with Itoje eager to see England capitalise on the momentum, and seize their moment once again.

“We need to seize our moments.  In any game you have a finite amount of moments that are there for you to take. In the games after that Ireland win, whether it was France or in new Zealand and beyond, we had those moments but we didn't seize them. Our opportunity now is to seize the moment. Scotland are a good team, no doubt. Their record against us dictates that. But I believe that if we do our job when get into those moments, when we have those opportunities and we take advantage and execute I believe we will do well.”

“The growth of this team is to win on win. That’s the growth. If we want to be a great team then we have to beat some tough teams and then beat some more tough teams. If we want to be the team that we want to be, that’s the journey we have to follow. We played France and we got it done, a tight win; we are playing Scotland – a tight win, hopefully – and that’s the growth. If we continue on that trajectory then we’re going to be moving closer to the type of team that we want to be.”

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