England locker room issues emerge after Six Nations embarrassment | Rugby | Sport
A third successive Six Nations loss plunged England into deeper turmoil as Italy clinched their first-ever victory in the fixture after 32 unsuccessful attempts. The Red Roses are now on the brink of their first single-win campaign in Six Nations history ahead of their final match against France this weekend. The calamitous recent performance comes just 18 months before the Rugby World Cup, with Healey believing it’s time for England to part ways with Borthwick. He accused Borthwick’s team of lacking a reliable style of play, which he attributes to a lack of trust in the dressing room. Healey said on TNT Sports: “The stats aren’t good for Steve Borthwick, the amount of support he’s had is top-notch.
“I think it’s time for a change. I think it’s time for Steve to go because I watched that side and there doesn’t seem to be trust between the players and the coaching staff. There doesn’t seem to be a style of play that you can hang your hat on. They don’t go out and attack; there’s no pace.”
England captain Itoje bore a great deal of responsibility for the loss to Italy. With England ahead at 18-16 with just 16 minutes remaining, the lock bafflingly slapped the ball from Italy scrum-half Alessandro Fusco’s hands during a maul.
That left England temporarily down to 13 men, with Sam Underhill having already been sin-binned for a high tackle on Danilo Fischetti. The skipper’s actions handed Italy a numerical advantage and the momentum until late in the match, which they exploited.
Healey launched his damning assessment of Itoje’s error by initially posting on social media: “Sorry that’s unforgivable from your captain.”
He also said: “There’s the captain, Maro Itoje, the yellow card he got, it was criminal, it was dreadful. You would never expect that from a captain or any player, for that matter. They are doing things as a squad of players they shouldn’t be doing, so there’s a disconnect. I think the disconnect has to be changed.”
Itoje was quick to take accountability for his poor display and that of the England team while speaking to ITV. He said: “Look, it’s obviously disappointing.
“It’s on us as players. We have to wear the performance. This team over the last year have put some good performances together; of recent, we haven’t. We have to face the facts and face reality and get back to work.
“We obviously have to figure that out. If we knew, we probably wouldn’t be in this position. Teams go through tough periods and we are going through a tough period now. As players, we take responsibility for that. We just have to own the result. We are in a results-based business and the result wasn’t good enough. As players and as captain I take responsibility for that.”
