Jan 31, 2025 03:30 AM IST
Itoje says England ‘prepared’ for Six Nations kings Eire
Maro Itoje says England are “ready to go” as they bid to upset the chances by launching their Six Nations marketing campaign with a defeat of twice defending champions Eire in Dublin.
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Saturday’s match will likely be Itoje’s first as England captain since succeeding Jamie George and the Saracens lock may hardly have a harder begin to his time main the group.
England received simply 5 out of 12 Assessments in 2024, a sequence that included 5 straight defeats, with their capacity to carry out nicely beneath stress towards high groups a speaking level.
However they had been additionally the one facet to beat Eire in final yr’s Six Nations and Itoje believes a new-look England can repeat that Twickenham triumph at Lansdowne Highway.
“We’ve prepared well, the boys have trained well and we’ve come together quite nicely,” he mentioned Thursday. “We’re clear on the plan. We’re ready to go.
“It is a actually large activity. Clearly Eire are an excellent group. They are a group that of their current historical past have put collectively a string of notable performances. They’ve high quality gamers and continuity, extra so than most different nations as a result of Leinster connection.”
England coach Steve Borthwick has selected a dynamic back-row with Tom and Ben Curry flanking No 8 Ben Earl, but none of the trio are line-out specialists.
Nevertheless, Itoje said: “We’ve got sufficient line-out jumpers. The road-out is an enormous a part of the sport and we’ve a well-oiled machine.”
The 30-year-old added: “Eire have gotten line-out, they’ve all the time had line-out. We’re constructed otherwise, we wish to go concerning the sport differently, however the set-piece is very large for us as nicely and I believe we’ll do nicely.”
Saturday will see the 26-year-old Curry brothers become the first male twins to be on the pitch for England together at the same time.
“It is actually thrilling,” said Ben Curry. “I’ve needed to play with Tom for a very long time. It is a kind of ones the place it is very nice within the build-up, very nice earlier than it.
“And I’m sure it’ll be really nice after the final whistle, but between the whistles you just want to win.”
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