WATCH: MARO ITOJE SCREAMS 'DON'T ARGUE WITH ME' AT FIN SMITH
Footage has emerged of England captain Maro Itoje screaming at fly-half Fin Smith in the 23-18 defeat by Italy, which further highlights the pressure building within the leadership group.
The incident occurred early in the second half with England leading 12-10. England had previously kicked a penalty to the corner where prop Ellis Genge knocked on just inches from the line.
However, England won a penalty from the resulting five-metre scrum giving them another opportunity to kick to the corner.
There seemed to be a split between England’s vice-captains with hooker Jamie George appearing to indicate he wanted to go for three points while Genge appealed to Itoje to go back to the corner.
At this point, Smith comes across to Itoje to argue for taking the line-out option. In footage shown by the BBC’s Rugby Special, Itoje can be heard screaming, “Don’t argue with me. Take the three.” Genge walks back towards England’s half grinning after Itoje’s outburst.
Smith’s comments were not picked up by the on-field microphone and he kicked the penalty to extend England’s lead to five points. The Italian press later reported that Italy’s players noticed the disagreement as a symptom of the pressure England were feeling as they would eventually fall to a third successive defeat.
This was an uncharacteristic outburst from Itoje, who rarely loses his temper. Discussing the incident on Rugby Special, former Scotland captain John Barclay suggested his authority as captain was being undermined.
“Do you want that level of background noise when you are trying to make a decision?” Barclay asked. “Maro has made a decision, Ellis Genge is having a bit of a joke maybe and Fin Smith has said: ‘Are we going to the corner?’
“That highlights what has happened in the last couple of weeks. Just so much pressure and there’s a bit of an explosion. There’s not a huge amount in it, but it is indicative of where they are.”
Sam Warburton, the former Wales captain, agreed with Barclay’s assessment. “Fin Smith was challenging it and I think Maro is absolutely right, but I think pressure does funny things,” Warburton said. “He was absolutely right to put his foot down but it just shows the pressure this group are under right now.”
The day would get much worse for Itoje as he became one of two England players to be sin-binned as Italy scored 13 unanswered points. Another defeat by France in Paris would make this England’s worst-ever Six Nations campaign, although Itoje attempted to take the blame off head coach Steve Borthwick whom the Rugby Football Union has backed through to this summer’s Nations Championship.
On his yellow card for slapping the ball out of the scrum-half’s hands from a maul, Itoje said: “Obviously it didn’t work out the way I intended. I was trying to scoop the ball back in my direction, and it didn’t work out the way I wanted it to. Yeah, it’s obviously hindsight. It was probably better left. I just have to wear that one.
“I just need to be sharper. I just need to be better. As Steve said out there, we were in a position to win the game, but ill discipline caught us. And again, that’s on us. That’s on me. I need to be better. I need to be sharper. The other guys, same thing. We need to be better. Steve can’t roll away or he can’t do those things for us.”
2026-03-09T12:20:39Z