Penalties will kill our Boks hopes warns Itoje
MARO Itoje has warned his England team-mates to cut out the penalties or face defeat on their Springbok tour which starts next week.
Discipline, says the Saracens lock, will decide whether they come back from South Africa with a first series victory.
Itoje, right, said they cannot concede the number of penalties that they did in the Six Nations – especially at the breakdown – and expect to beat the Boks in the three-Test series.
Reflecting on the three consecutive losses to Scotland, France and Ireland, Itoje said: “There were two significant areas in which we did not do well enough: the breakdown and discipline. Because of those two areas we were not able to sustain pressure.”
Itoje said it was one of the reasons England had referees involved ‘every week’ in their training sessions ahead of the squad leaving for South Africa yesterday.
He added: “You can’t win Tests, or big games for your club if you give away too many penalties. Unless it’s under a certain number you put yourselves in a difficult situation. I don’t know what the golden number is, but in the Six Nations it was too much.”
The golden number is usually considered to be single figures for penalties in all areas.
However, this season England conceded 30 at the breakdown alone in the Six Nations – an average of six a match – and were the most heavily penalised team in that area. In 2017 they conceded only 16 at the breakdown.
Itoje said that he expected that new England captain Owen Farrell would demand high standards everywhere.
“We have to hold each other to account. It happens to everyone, even Owen. He pushes the standards, which is probably why Eddie has put him in that role.”
He added of his Saracens team-mate: “I think Owen plays better when he’s captain. He speaks well, but I think he speaks better as captain.
“He has a holistic approach to the game. I haven’t met many, if any smarter rugby players than him. I know for a fact, having played under him before, that he is going to do very well in the role.”