Somehow, Maro Itje's notion that brings what one of his teammates had described as the “unpleasant and bite” that was supposed to underpin this England seemed a bit crazy. This is the man who has had his guidance advisor prior to marriage watching his games lately.
For a while, while the march looked good for England, Itoje deconstructed that notion. When his teammates aligned in the wrong place for the hymns prior to the game, he accompanied them to the right place in the five -meter line.
When the hymns played, he looked like a man ending like a rolled spring. It wasn't just the way he released words. It was that I couldn't even stay still while I was in the process of doing so.
For a while, we saw everything from him that had been expected in this third iteration of 'Steve Borthwick's England'. He threw himself to the gain line, won the billing, placing himself in the demolition work center that England made in the rugby, the form and mentality of Ireland.
There was something of the night about England in that first half, sometimes it was a dirty business, and Itoje was the one that made quiet supplications to the referee in his name.
“I will need that blue brain when I communicate with the referee,” he reflected a few weeks ago. “Know when to push, know when to leave it alone.” When Ireland thought they had matched England's first attempt, it was he who pointed to referee Ben O'Keeffe that Tadhg Beirne had illegally maintained in the previous phase.
Maro Itoje was instrumental since England began brilliantly in his first six -nations match against Ireland
But the captain of England was wondering what could have been after a poor performance in the second half saw his team beaten by the renowned champions
His monster Tackle seemed to have sent Harry Slade until the center's forearm touched the ball and was called a blow. A penalty against Itoje that gave Ireland the advantage was absurd, a barely discernible infraction in the line.
There was an incredible line of England line when they were ascending: immense physical pressure, driven by the new captain, shaking the center of the Ireland field in details and errors.
In part time, you imagined that the consequent Andy Farrell, the coach of the Lions, would have seen Itoje, his mind, like the man to lead his team, about Caelan Dorris, who now leads Ireland, standing in the shadow of the old agitator Peter O'Mahony.
What very affectionate of a persuasion of England wanted what we witness in that first half was what the team will represent in the month more or less. But there are no rewards for periods of skill, promise and ambition, of course.
It was clear that England would get tired and that those in reserve would have to carry the torch. The notion that they could do it was completely delusional.
Itoje was helpless to deal with the fact that England's inexperienced substitutes were no less than a disaster during a second half in which Ireland obtained 22 consecutive points and exposed the desperate superficial of the Nation of Rose.
While Harry Randall was reminding him of his head and Chandler Cunningham-South Merodeaba in the center of the field, Jack Crowley and Jack Conan were taking Ireland to an easy ascent. Men and children.
Borthwick's defensive commitment, mobility on the muscle, was counterproductive. Itoje was chasing shadows, filling the increasing holes. Dorris returned to ancestry. “He returned to the old us,” he said at the end of everything.
England could not deal with Ireland as the game progressed, particularly because less experienced substitutes were introduced
The team must quickly regrouped defeat with unbridled French
Steve Borthwick's teams are in danger of bringing England to the abyss of six other nations
He is concerned about what this brutal examination of the second half for an England that will be asked to deliver the same type of total rugby on Twickenham next weekend against a team of France that has humiliated Wales.
Itoje was doing all the appropriate noises here on Saturday night. His message to the team, he said, had been that “the first half was really good and the second half did not execute the game plan in terms of field and territory position.” That he was putting it gently.
His softly spoken evaluation in the theater of the press conference was that “our role is to learn from this and improve”, when what this needs is considerably more than the anger with which his afternoon had begun.
He has taken a long time to the rise to the role of the captaincy that can be seen clearly is the honor of his life.
What misfortune that a coach who lost seven tests in nine was given, was offering inexperience of the squad as an excuse last night and, in this evidence, he is taking England to the abyss of six other nations.