STRAIGHT AND MARO

Captain tells England flops to get 'back to basics'

- BY ADAM HATHAWAY

MARO ITOJE has laid down the law to his misfiring England teammates - demanding they front up or face more Six Nations ruin in Rome.

At a players’ meeting last night, the skipper told the squad to go back to the basics that saw them win 12 games in a row before their campaign unravelled.

Pressure has been piling up on the squad in the wake of the disastrous flops against Scotland and Ireland, but Itoje was calmness personified on the eve of today’s clash with Italy.

England are the only Six Nations side never to have lost to the Italians and have beaten them in 32 Tests on the spin.

But if that record goes up in smoke at Stadio Olimpico this afternoon, England - with France to come next weekend in Paris - would be looking at a humiliating record of one win in five this year, and questions will be asked.