Itoje confronts report of toxic Borthwick environment head on after win

Maro Itoje has said that England are “lucky to have” Steve Borthwick as head coach after a report emerged last week revealing discontent in the squad and a toxic environment under him.

Despite his side producing their best display of 2026 – a record 45-22 victory over Australia in round four of the Nations Championship at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium – the head coach was understandably questioned on the report after the match.

While Borthwick said he is “clearly not going to respond to that,” he did reveal that a number of his “predecessors” have contacted him with words of support in the past days.

“It’s not an environment I recognise, not an accurate reflection,” Borthwick said. “But what I will say is that in the last couple of days a number of my predecessors reached out and contacted me. They’re always supportive – I won’t name who they are – a number reached out to me and the basic gist of it is, ‘Been there, got the t-shirt, focus on the rugby,’ and that’s it.

“As England head coach, you get that t-shirt, that’s it. We just focus on the rugby, and that’s what I’ve done this week. That’s what the players have done. That’s what every member of the whole staff around the place has done this week.”

England captain Itoje was quick to interject and defend his head coach as well, saying “the article doesn’t represent the environment I recognise.”

This was a highly promising performance from England, who need to go a long way to win over their fandom following a dismal start to 2026, where they succumbed to their worst-ever Six Nations.

Borthwick’s may still need to prove themselves to their fans, and the rest of the world, and their meeting with the All Blacks in two weeks’ time is an ideal place to do that, but Itoje has assured that he has full support from his players.

“Can I just add to that?” Itoje said after his coach was questioned on the report. “I think, particularly from a player’s point of view, we have full support for Steve. I’ve had the privilege of Steve being my coach from 2016, with a little gap in his Leicester years, and that’s not the man I recognise. The article doesn’t represent the environment I recognise, and I think if you speak to players over his coaching career, they will say a different story.

“As always, there are things that we want to get right; there are things that we try and put on the field. Sometimes, for whatever reason, it doesn’t quite click and often too much criticism is attached to the coach, whereas no matter how well Steve coaches us, we as players are the ones on the field. We as players are the ones who have to perform. There have been times where we haven’t quite done that, which has put a bit of pressure on him.

“I’m delighted that today we’re able to get the win. He’s a world-class coach, and we’re lucky to have him.”