Six Nations 2025: Maro Itoje hits back at England attack critics and expects ‘step forward’ against Italy | Rugby Union Newsnews24

Maro Itoje has hit back at critics of England’s attack as they look for a strong finish to the Guinness Six Nations.

Steve Borthwick’s side remain in title contention but they sit fourth in the try-scoring table behind France, Ireland and Scotland, having crossed only eight times in three games.

To reinvigorate his backline, Borthwick has axed Marcus Smith and Henry Slade and given starts to Elliot Daly and Fraser Dingwall, who is one of five Northampton players behind the scrum.

England were booed early in the second half against Scotland a fortnight ago because of the amount of box kicking, with 2003 World Cup winner Will Greenwood among those who criticised the lack of impact they made with the ball in hand.

“I don’t think our attack is as bad as everyone is saying it is,” Itoje told reporters ahead of Sunday’s clash against Italy at the Allianz Stadium.

“First game against Ireland, we scored three tries. Second game against France we scored four. Obviously we only scored one last time against Scotland, but that’s not reflective of an attack that can’t even start the engine.

“Don’t get me wrong, we want to improve. We want to get better at it. But I don’t think we’re starting from a bad place.

“We want options at the line. We want to go to where the space is. We want 15 players to be fully engaged in that. And we want to be courageous and brave with that.”

Italy visit England on Sunday in search of a first victory in the fixture, having lost all 31 previous encounters, with the Azzurri entering the match on the back of being demolished 73-24 by France.

“This week is about taking a step forward,” Itoje added. “In this competition, everyone is dangerous, everyone can cause teams problems.

“Italy’s game has been a bit up and down but they have shown both sides of that. They have shown they can cause teams a lot of problems and they won’t be too happy with their result against France.

“We want to win. We want to win well. But to do that, we have to do all the tough stuff that rugby requires. It’s not going to be an easy game.”

Curry dismisses criticism of England’s style

England’s two victories have come by a combined margin of two points and their rugby has often been far from free-flowing, but Tom Curry insists it is not fair to criticise the side for a lack of flair.

“Fair or not, it’s quite an opinionated way to put it,” Curry told Sky Sports News. “You have got to look at it objectively in terms of them being two different games. That’s why there can’t be a comparison – it’s like comparing chalk and cheese. They’re almost two different sports.

“Do we want to play better? Do we want to attack better? Absolutely. But do we want to say, ‘let’s do it like the Premiership?’ No, it doesn’t work like that. We’re not naive at all but that’s the exciting bit. It’s where we can take it rather than a negativity.

“This is one of the stepping stones. We’ve gone from the autumn – where we were losing those games – to now where we’re winning them. We know the next step is to win them well but it’s easier said than done.”

Jamie George, set for his 100th England cap this weekend, added: “I think the way that the games have played out have meant that we haven’t necessarily been able to put the game plan on the field that we want.

“I think this week has been more about us, focusing on us and how we can put our game plan on the field, regardless of what the opposition are doing. That requires us to be brave and that requires us to work really hard to get back behind the ball.

“We genuinely want to play a good, expansive, attacking game, and I’m hoping that’s what you see at Allianz this weekend.”

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