"Playing for England is the Mecca" – Maro Itoje: England lock blasts rumours of 'Breakaway League' with focus on Test rugby

Yesterday at 10:51 AM

England lock Maro Itoje has laid down the law in regards to the rumours of a ‘breakaway’ rugby competition. The speculation is that 40 of the world’s top international talents will be offered lucrative £1m contracts, to help develop a league that is planning to ‘revolutionise’ the global rugby landscape.

However, there is a hinderance to joining the supposed breakaway league, as any top player would forego future Test match involvement with their national set-up. This is a worrying rival on the cusp of emergence for the Premiership and RFU boards, yet England lock Maro Itoje believes that nothing can come close to representing his country. The Saracen put the sword through any possibility of his participation in a breakaway league, as he said;

"The first time I heard of it was when it broke. That was the first time I heard about it. We'll wait and see."

"Playing for England is the Mecca. I don't really know any of the details of it as yet, but wearing this rose is extremely important to me and my teammates."

Looking away from the rumoured breakaway league, and back to his immediate focus with the England team, Itoje is expecting a very ‘different challenge’ in Sunday’s Test. England take on Japan in the fourth round of the Autumn Nations Series, with Steve Borthwick’s side desperate to get a win chalked up on the board, after defeats to New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.

"There is obviously a different challenge with Japan, but this week is another opportunity.” Itoje said. “We've had three weeks where we have fallen short. It is an opportunity for us as players to continue to build and get better. It is another opportunity for us to attack a new opposition."

"Obviously it's not ideal, not what we planned or wanted (three losses in the Autumn). As players, we need to be better. I feel like our plan is right and the coaches are setting us up well. But as players, we need to do our part and finish the job."

England’s story of the series has been an inability to close out matches in the dying moments, with the All Blacks, Wallabies and Springboks successfully completing comeback wins at the Allianz Stadium. Whilst the finales to each fixture played out in different ways, the message remains clear from the England vice-captain; ‘we need to be better’.

"We just didn't convert. We had opportunities. The gameplan put us in position to win, so credit to our staff and our support coaches. As players, we need to convert and be more clinical on the field. We had the lineout five metres out. Myself in the clear-out where I got called back for a pen. We needed to be a bit tighter in and around our exits. If we had a clean exit, then they don't get two charge-downs. All of that stuff is on us as players. We need to be better."

"With all these decisions, hindsight is 20/20. At the time, and even on reflection, I still think it was a good decision. But that decision is dependent on us executing. As players, we need to be better."

"Each game has been a little bit different. Today was definitely about us not taking our opportunities. At this level against these kind of teams, you have to take your opportunities. We had opportunities to win and for different reasons in different parts of the game, we weren't as clinical as we would have liked."

"I don't know if it is because of a lack of confidence. I think we started the game like a team that is full of confidence. We genuinely trust and back what we are doing. The momentum of the game was to and fro for the majority of it, and we got into a position where we were leading. We just need to take those opportunities. The higher the level, the fewer opportunities you get, so you have to be even more clinical."

Echoing the thoughts of his England teammates Freddie Steward and Jack van Poortvleit, Itoje also emphasized how no sole blame should be cast upon his head coach Steve Borthwick. The second row backs how Borthwick and his coaching staff are setting up the training week at Pennyhill Park, and reinforced the intensity of the on-field personnel to execute when it matter most inside the all important 80 minute outings.

"I feel there are certain areas where we have improved. But ultimately we haven't got the results. We are in a results business. I think the coaches are setting up the week nicely and preparing us for the challenge ahead, so as players we need to be better and more clinical. When we have these opportunities to win games, we have to make sure that we are precise and we execute."

"The staff have been brilliant throughout this campaign. We've got one more week to go. It's on us as players, us as senior players, us as leaders to take responsibility and turn this thing around."

"He's (Steve Borthwick) honestly been fantastic. I've rarely seen a coach who has as much devotion as him. We need to do better by him. We need to finish off these games."

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