{"id":291518,"date":"2023-10-21T13:39:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-21T13:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/?p=291518"},"modified":"2023-10-21T13:39:02","modified_gmt":"2023-10-21T13:39:02","slug":"maro-itoje-had-underlying-health-issue-affecting-england-form-before-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/rugby-league\/maro-itoje-had-underlying-health-issue-affecting-england-form-before-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Maro Itoje had ‘underlying health issue’ affecting England form before World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earl and England look ahead to Rugby World Cup semi-final<\/h3>\n

England lock Maro Itoje revealed earlier this year that he had an \u201cunderlying\u201d health issue which affected his form ahead of the Rugby World Cup. The Saracens ace, who has won a staggering 74 caps for England, has been one of his country\u2019s most influential players since making his debut in 2016 but suffered a drastic downturn in form last year.<\/p>\n

Itoje was part of the England team that finished fourth in this year\u2019s Six Nations after winning just two of their five matches. And after being questioned about his struggles on the pitch, he told iNews: \u201cI guess over the last year or so there have been things which have probably affected my conditioning, which has resulted in me being perhaps a little less energised.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been injury bits, a few niggles, a few things that I\u2019ve had ongoing which I didn\u2019t know were ongoing. It was some health things behind, which I know have had an impact. Due to how I was feeling it probably wasn\u2019t the quality of what I would expect for myself. All of that has kind of been resolved over the last three weeks. I\u2019m now in, I think, a much better position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Itoje had been described as a \u201csix out of 10\u201d by 2003 Rugby World Cup winner Lawrence Dallaglio, while his former club team-mate Jim Hamilton said the ace was \u201cdefinitely not the Maro of that 2019 World Cup semi-final [win over] New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more… <\/strong> England have ‘beef’ with Springboks at Rugby World Cup after Eddie Jones vow<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But Itoje insisted his form had not been as bad as some people had portrayed it to be as he added: \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve been terrible. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve gone on the pitch being, you know, a liability.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still think I\u2019ve made an impact, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve been a dud on the field. It was an underlying thing, which none of us knew was going on. Through doing some checks, we were able to ID it and then rectify it.\u201d<\/p>\n