Itoje: Life's taken turn for the better under Borthwick

ENGLAND and Saracens lock Maro Itoje has claimed that the ‘atmosphere and experience’ of playing for the national team has improved under Steve Borthwick compared to life under former head coach Eddie Jones, adding that some of the practices Jones employed to get the best out of his players were ‘unnecessary’.

Speaking with Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan on The Sports Agents podcast, Itoje – who has represented England 88 times since 2016 – praised current head coach Steve Borthwick for the culture and environment he has cultivated in the team since replacing Eddie Jones in 2022. “The atmosphere is very different to how it was then. The way Steve has conducted the environment and created the environment and cultivated the environment is very different,” he says. “Like, the support staff do a great job and making sure there’s fun things for us to do, time to relax, even time away from camp in the week.”