Maro Itoje believes Fin Smith spat is a ‘good thing’ and laughs off England player rift claim
Maro Itoje and Fin Smith (pictured) were seen in a heated argument on the pitch in England's defeat to Italy
England captain Maro Itoje has downplayed talk of a ‘crack’ between the leadership group after an on-field disagreement with fly-half Fin Smith.
Itoje was spotted in discussion with the number 10 in the second-half, with the captain later yelling ‘don’t argue with me’ as he opted to take the three points.
At the time, England were leading 15-10, with the subsequent three points extending that to 18-10, but they then slipped to a 23-18 defeat to Italy.
‘There’s no crack between us’
The images of the duo arguing on the pitch, coupled with a historic first defeat to the Azzurri alongside two previous defeats to Scotland and Ireland, have since suggested there is a rift within England’s senior leadership group, but Itoje has quickly shot that down.
“There’s no crack between us,” Itoje said. “Fin is a good guy, we get on very well.
“When you have good relationships with people, you’re able to have those sorts of conversations and can move on from them quickly.
“There was no residue from that. Because of the loss, it was made into something bigger than it actually was.”
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“I didn’t lose it!” the captain quipped. “You don’t often see me with a mic, but maybe I’m portraying a false image!
“I like to hear what my key decision makers think of what is going on, and whoever plays at 10 will obviously have an important role in that.
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“I initially asked what we thought we should do. He expressed a view, I expressed a view, and I just wanted to move on to the next thing quickly.
“I actually think it’s a good thing that people in the team feel they can express their views.
“That’s the most kosher of fallouts that the world has ever seen. We have had far more blunt conversations between ourselves and other teammates.
“There’s no real biggie. After that interaction, we even laughed about it a little bit on the pitch as well.”
England head coach Steve Borthwick also seems to be happy that there is no issue within the leadership group, as Itoje, Ellis Genge and Jamie George carry on as captain and vice-captains respectively.
Elsewhere, the boss has made just one change to his starting XV from last weekend’s defeat in Rome, with Ollie Chessum coming in at blindside flanker.
