Maro Itoje has total conviction that England’s best will be enough to see them celebrate victory over South Africa in Paris tomorrow night.
England take on the Springboks in their Rugby World Cup semi-final at the Stade de France in a re-run of the 2019 final in Yokohama that the Boks won 32-12.
Rassie Erasmus’s South Africa are favourites to move through to the final and take another step closer to defending their title. Itoje, however, puts no stall in favourites or underdogs, insisting instead that England’s belief trumps any outside appraisal.
“I believe there is still a huge amount of growth to come from this team, and I feel we haven’t seen the best of us yet,” said Itoje.
“I always have belief with this team. I always have belief in what we can do and what we are capable of.
“For us, it is just about imposing our game. We don’t want to sit back and just watch them do their thing. We want to be England.
“I believe the best is yet to come. I believe that if we put our best out on the field, we are going to be celebrating tomorrow night and that we’ll have a positive night.”
England were overwhelmed in the 2019 final, running out of steam after blitzing the All Blacks in the semi-finals. South Africa stole a march on Eddie Jones’s side, and Itoje and Co were not able to recover.
Itoje insisted, however, that any thoughts of revenge four years on have long since dissipated and would only prove counterproductive come tomorrow.
The Saracens talisman believes that any attempt to right specific wrongs from that final four years ago would see England come unstuck.
“We have to play the game that’s in front of us,” said Itoje. “We have to play this South Africa team, not the South Africa team of however many years ago and not the one that they may become after this.
“As individuals and as a collective, we have to be really present. We have to be really in the moment to deal with what we need to deal with.
“There’s definitely a different energy around the place this week in comparison to other big games I’ve played in. There’s a different feel. There’s a heightened sense of awareness, a heightened sense of what needs to be done. I think people are aware of what’s at stake.
“We want to play a smart brand of rugby. When you get to these games, a lot of people say, ‘It’s just another game’. This isn’t just another game — this is a special game.
“They’re a good team, they’re world champions and they have had a good World Cup, but we’ve played them twice since 2019, they’ve won one and we’ve won one. So, we’re not talking about a team that has never lost. They are a good team, but so are we.”
