Maro Itoje hits out at Eddie Jones’ ‘inaccurate’ assessment and rubbishes acting classes claim
Maro Itoje has hit back at Eddie Jones' assessment of his leadership.
England lock Maro Itoje has hit back at Eddie Jones’ assessment of his leadership and rubbished the ex-head coach’s claim that he attended acting classes.
Itoje has been named as Saracens’ club captain for the upcoming 2024/25 season, succeeding his ex-England teammate Owen Farrell.
The second rower has rejected Jones’ negative assessment of his leadership as the “wrong diagnosis”.
The former England head coach aired his doubts over Itoje’s captaincy potential in his book ‘Leadership’ as he viewed the lock as “inward-looking” and believes that he “drives himself rather than anyone else. He doesn’t usually influence people off the field”.
Maro Itoje hits back
Following Jones‘ sacking, the Lions lock has taken on a greater role in England’s leadership group as he was named vice-captain in several Tests under Steve Borthwick and captained the side when Jamie George left the pitch during the July internationals against Japan and New Zealand.
The comments made by the Australian, who was sacked in 2022, raised eyebrows at the time given he was still in charge at Twickenham and for Itoje it was a mistaken characterisation.
“I felt that was a wrong diagnosis of who I am,” Itoje said.
“Most people who know me and most people who read those comments who knew me, would say that was an inaccurate conclusion to who I am as a person,” Itoje said.
“I guess it was unfortunate that your coach would say something like that about you, but in life not everyone is going to see the things the way you see it.
“For me it wasn’t necessarily about over-reacting to that sort of thing. I just wanted to stay consistent to who I believed I was.
“For me, reflection is a really important part of what I try to do. I like to think I have a pretty accurate assessment of how I am, what I like, what makes me tick.”
England captaincy and acting classes
Jones also claimed that he sent Itoje to acting classes to draw out his ‘internal fire’.
However, the Saracens skipper has rubbished that claim stating: “I was not waltzing across a stage and practising my Shakespearean prose.”
Itoje revealed that he immediately accepted the role as Saracens captain when director of rugby Mark McCall offered him the job.
But added that he does not have the England captaincy on his radar.
“That position is held by my friend and team-mate Jamie George. So I’m not commenting on another man’s job. I’ve barely started this one. I want to give my best to this and see where we go,” he said.
“I want to try and be as authentically myself as possible. I want to lead in ways that are natural to me. I don’t want to deviate too much from what has made me the man/player I am today.
“To be a good leader you have to lead by example. People definitely won’t follow you if you are not walking the walk and that’s how I envisage going about my business.”
