Maro Itoje set his sights on world champions South Africa cursing a blown opportunity and asking why England can still only play in patches. The Saracens star admitted to mixed feelings over the New Zealand draw, saying: “We are happy with the comeback but it feels like we could have done more.”
He expressed frustration at England’s growing tendency to only get their act together when they are points down, in this case 19 of them.“To be honest it kind of feels like an opportunity missed,” he said.
“We didn’t get out of the blocks and left it until the second half where all the pressure was on us to finally be free and play the type of rugby we want to play.
“I’m proud that we stuck in and didn’t go away but we need to play like that for the whole game. Why can’t we?” Giving up two converted tries inside 10 minutes didn’t help, nor an alarming ability to lift the pressure on the opposition by making mistakes or gifting penalties.
“They didn’t do anything that was particularly surprising,” Itoje added. “They are a good team who punish you if you are not accurate. We weren’t accurate and they punished us.
“We have an incredible amount of potential in this team, we just need to unlock it. We are showing it in patches but we need 80 minutes. South Africa will be a great challenge. Strong set-piece, strong kicking game, strong defence.
But it’s about what we do. Hopefully we’ll come back and play with the energy which we ended this game.”
