England star Itoje: Eddie Jones got it wrong about me

Maro Itoje has dismissed Eddie Jones' negative assessment of his captaincy abilities, saying the Australian made the "wrong diagnosis" about him before he went on to lead England on the field.

Itoje, who will also captain his club Saracens for the new season as successor to Owen Farrell and may be a future contender for the national armband, hit back at the former England coach Jones, three years since he was scathing of the brilliant lock's prospects of ever leading his country.

Jones, writing in his book 'Leadership', viewed the Lions second row star as "inward-looking", adding that he "drives himself rather than anyone else. He doesn't usually influence people off the field".

Jones' opinion has since been proved wrong as Itoje took over from Jamie George as England skipper when his Saracens teammate left the field on the summer tour to 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. 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."

Jones claimed to have sent Itoje to acting classes to draw out his "internal fire", but the Saracens forward denies these took place.

"I was not waltzing across a stage and practising my Shakespearean prose," he said.

When Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall asked Itoje to be skipper during the summer he accepted immediately. The England captaincy is not on his radar, however.

"That position is held by my friend and teammate 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.