CAN WE KO WALES? EU BET
Itoje inspired to tackle Dragons in must-win game by boxer Eubank’s triumphs over adversity
MARO ITOJE says England must take a lesson from a boxing great if they are to knock out Wales’ title challenge and revive their own.
Itoje psyched himself up for today’s heavyweight showdown in Cardiff by watching Chris Eubank’s Life Stories with Piers Morgan.
He came away struck by how Eubank (above, right), a brilliant if far-from universally loved boxer, used adversity to his advantage.
“As an England team specifically, one could argue that’s pretty similar to how a lot of other nations see us,” said Itoje (above).
“If you are in that position it’s about relishing it, it’s about enjoying the challenge, enjoying the competition, enjoying the moment – and doing what you need to do to take care of business.” Eubank did that time and again, conquering the world at middleweight and super-middleweight in a golden era for British boxing.
This England generation have yet to achieve world champion status and know defeat tonight will floor their Six Nations ambitions.
But Itoje insists they have more than a puncher’s chance if they can get their minds right for one of rugby’s fiercest rivalries.
“Rugby is a game similar to boxing in the sense that you can’t fake rugby, you can’t play at rugby,” the 26-year-old lock said.
“It isn’t a game where you can win just on pure talent. You can’t just go out there and go through the motions, because if you do that you will get beat.
“You need to have that mentality, you need to have that fighting spirit, you need to have that dogged approach to what you do.” The absence of a crowd at the Principality Stadium makes it all the more important that England get their internal processes right.
This time they will not be booed and jeered during the ‘ringwalk’, there will be no ear-popping wall of sound as they attempt to storm the citadel of Welsh rugby.
As Itoje conceded: “We have to create our own energy, our own buzz, our own atmosphere within the stadium. The noise for this game is usually something to behold. The bus journey in normal times can get a bit lively.
“But in all honesty those things are minor. We are focused on making sure we are ready to go at kick-off time because we need a result.
“Our ambition going into the Six Nations was to win it. For us to do that it means we have to win here.
That’s the reality of the situation.” Four of the six matches played in the tournament so far have resulted in away wins.
Add to that the evidence of football, in which home team advantage has been largely neutralised behind closed doors, and the Dragons’ lair should be far less intimidating than usual.
But this is a Welsh team out to give George North extra reason to celebrate his 100th cap.
Wales have ridden their luck in this tournament, rescuing wins from losing positions after Ireland, then Scotland, had forwards sent off.
Itoje reckons in both instances those players “weren’t in full control of what they were doing”.
He knows that today England must be – or they can kiss goodbye to emulating Eubank by being Simply The Best.
PATRICK BAMFORD claims he still gets trolled over his dive to get Aston Villa’s Anwar El Ghazi sent off two years ago.
Bamford went down pretending he had been hit in the face by El Ghazi during the melee following Leeds’ hugelycontroversial goal in the 1-1 draw at Elland Road, with the Villa striker dismissed (the incident plays out, above).
El Ghazi’s red card was overturned on appeal and Bamford was hit with a two-match ban for deceiving the referee.
The Leeds striker has apologised for his behaviour and says he still gets mocked on social media.
Tonight will be the first time the sides have met at Elland Road since that infamous clash and Bamford said: “I still get sent flipping GIFs and memes of me falling on the floor from that game and I’m, ‘Come on, let it go, I’m so sorry’.”
Villa were incensed by Mateusz Klich’s goal and had stopped playing, thinking Leeds were going to knock the ball out of play because Jonathan Kodjia was down injured.
Marcelo Bielsa won a FIFA Fair Play award for ordering Leeds to let Villa equalise straight from the restart to calm the volatile situation, and Bamford (right) says there has been a real rivalry between the clubs since.
“It seems like over the last couple of years we have become rivals with Villa, I don’t know why,” he told the latest edition of the
Official
Leeds United Podcast. “Maybe it’s that whole thing I did with that stupid dive, and we had to give them a goal and that kicked it off.
“That was one game, surely you let go of that?” Three of Bamford’s 13 Premier League goals came against Villa at Villa Park in October, and he has been denied a couple more by contentious VAR offside calls against Wolves and Crystal Palace. Bamford feels football’s lawmakers need to review VAR and the offside rule because too many goals are being disallowed by hairline decisions. “Looking at mine at Wolves, the linesman gives it offside, you go to VAR and have a look at it and the line drawn to my knee seems to be diagonal, and the line drawn to the guy’s heel seems to be straight down,” he added.
“There’s no consistency and how can you be 100 per cent certain?
“The camera angle was not parallel to where I was on the pitch, it’s looking back.
“I was flicking through Twitter trying to find a still of the image and saw one guy tweet that if you are fouled outside the penalty box, and your feet are outside the penalty box but your knee is inside, it’s not a penalty, it’s a free-kick.
“So if your feet are behind the offside line, then surely you should use the same rule.
“It’s been brought in to try to make the game better, but everyone wants to see goals, and I think it’s denying more goals than it’s giving.”