England duo looking to ‘grow the game’ by touring Rugby World Cup minnows in the future

Adam Kyriacou

02 Oct 2023 2:09 PM

England hooker Jamie George and lock Maro Itoje.

England duo Jamie George and Maro Itoje have hailed the showings of the Tier Two sides at this Rugby World Cup and feel they should be touring their nations.

Speaking with a game against Samoa coming up this weekend in Lille, England are eager to make it four wins out of four in Pool D ahead of the quarter-finals.

But both George and Itoje were asked about the form of the so-called ‘minnows’ at the Rugby World Cup and the hooker and lock were full of praise for the sides.

Tours to Tier Two sides

“World Cups highlight the incredible work the tier two nations are doing and their standard,” England hooker George said before discussing possible tour games.

“If you look at some of the performances from the lower-seeded sides at the World Cup, if you get the opportunity to go over there then why not?

“If you can pair it up with a tour to New Zealand or Australia or wherever it might be, it would be great to grow the game out there.

“We know how passionate they are about their rugby over there. If the calendar works then absolutely, why not?”

Itoje, meanwhile, was blown away by the showings of such teams as Portugal, who have stood up well against Wales and Australia while also drawing with Georgia.

“We’ve seen the general level of play of alleged tier two nations go through the roof in this World Cup and I think we’re starting to see the lines blur between tier one and tier two, which is brilliant,” he said.

“I would love for us to have a conversation where there’s no such thing as tier two, or where tier two starts from countries ranked 20 and under. That would be a brilliant evolution of the game.

Chile also impressed

“I was speaking to some of the Chileans after our last game and they were saying that when they came here it was one of the first times they had played on soft grass.

“They said it was nice to do contact in France because the grass was soft. And it was green. Back in Chile it’s all tough and all hard.

“If we can get on top of the structural issues, it would be brilliant to see more nations like Chile reach the level of Argentina or beyond, or Portugal reach the level of teams in the Six Nations.”

England