{"id":506502,"date":"2026-04-01T05:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T05:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/506502\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T05:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T05:08:13","slug":"six-nations-lessons-and-teaching-kids-resilience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/506502\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Nations lessons and teaching kids resilience"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maro Itoje is on the seventh floor of the Clara Grant School in Tower Hamlets, east London. Through one window, an image of wealth. The gleaming glass financial hub of Canary Wharf stands incongruously over the inner-city estates. Through another, the tower block in which most of the children live, often in disadvantaged and overcrowded conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Twenty young boys and girls from the primary school greet Itoje with a moving performance of\u00a0World in Union, a song first recorded for the 1991 Rugby World Cup in England, before sitting in a circle to each ask him a question. How did you become England captain? What did you want to be when you grew up? What was your funniest moment on the field?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Itoje had begun his day around the corner at St Paul\u2019s Way primary school, where 43 per cent of pupils qualify for free school meals. When Sir Keir Starmer<\/a> paid them a visit, the first question posed to him was: how much do you earn? Itoje avoided that one, although he would have been well prepared. Itoje and the prime minister spent time at a recent state banquet for the president of Nigeria discussing how to deal with scrutiny.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MaroItoje rubbed shoulders with the prime minister at the Nigerian state banquet at Windsor Castle earlier this month<\/p>\n

At the Windsor Castle dinner, Itoje talked rugby with Princess Anne, who had taken great delight in handing the Calcutta Cup to Scotland after England\u2019s defeat at Murrayfield<\/a>, he had a \u201cbrief interaction with the King\u201d about the Six Nations and talked politics and the media with Starmer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had Iran and the cost of living at the forefront of his mind. We had a great conversation around all those topics and what he\u2019s hoping to do with the country,\u201d Itoje<\/a> says. \u201cOver the last six weeks, the England team and I have had our fair share of criticism. He has to live in that state 24-7. How does one keep to the task at hand?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

State dinners and state schools, from one extreme to another for the England captain. Itoje is here in Tower Hamlets to meet children who receive weekly tuition sessions funded by his foundation, the Pearl Fund. He is finding it an important, confronting experience.<\/p>\n

Many of these pupils arrive into primary school without fine motor skills because they have grown up staring at tablets. That is not necessarily a criticism of parents; many of whom are out working, trying to make ends meet for their families.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MaroItoje meets some of the children who receive regular tuition sessions funded by his foundation, the Pearl FundPaul Ifeneziuche<\/p>\n

Either way, the children at both schools we visit crave the knowledge and the dedicated adult interaction provided by volunteers from Action Tutoring. School attendance on tuition days goes up. Skills improve. Confidence and communication grow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking behind you now,\u201d Itoje says. \u201cThis council estate is where the majority of the kids from this school live. Maybe it\u2019s a two-bedroom flat with three, four, five children. It\u2019s a highly congested space. This is a densely populated area with no green space.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to pick the most disadvantaged borough and help the kids who are the most vulnerable, who have the biggest risk. You can watch it on TV, you can read about it, but it doesn\u2019t ram home the importance until you see it in front of you.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t see an alternative path for yourself, if you see no hope in school or no hope in your education, then you\u2019re much more likely to go into doing untoward behaviour.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Itoje\u2019s contribution is part of a wider mission to close the attainment gap \u2014 the difference in academic performance between disadvantaged and privileged children \u2014 which has been growing since Covid. As a former pupil of Harrow School, raised in a wealthy family that prioritised education, Itoje acknowledges his good fortune and the \u201clottery of birth\u201d.<\/p>\n

The last question of the session comes from Rubel Aloum, the head of school at Clara Grant. He asks Itoje to explain to the children the importance of resilience, of not giving up when they struggle with a maths problem and to keep working at their English when finishing the sentence feels hard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MaroThe England captain, 31, wants to help close the attainment gap \u2014 the difference in academic performance between disadvantaged and privileged children \u2014 through his foundationTimes Photographer Marc Aspland<\/p>\n

As Itoje answers, he could just as easily be talking about England\u2019s Six Nations<\/a> campaign, which derailed alarmingly with defeats by Scotland, Ireland and Italy before a more promising performance against France in Paris. With four defeats, this was England\u2019s worst Six Nations campaign. Resilience is needed in spades.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife isn\u2019t always fun. It isn\u2019t always sunshine and rainbows,\u201d he says to the pupils. \u201cWhen things are hard, persevere and eventually you will come out the other side. Once you do, you will look back and go, \u2018Oh, I thought that was hard but now I have done it.\u2019 Life is a series of those moments over and over again. When you have homework or a test that is a little bit hard, if you stick to it you will overcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

The children file off back to class, some with Itoje\u2019s autograph on their school uniform, and we take a seat. I want to dig deeper into that advice and his belief that consistency in approach and effort will ultimately prevail.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The RFU is conducting a review of England\u2019s campaign. Some changes, whether in management personnel, style or structure, appear inevitable. Steve Borthwick<\/a>, the head coach, is expected to get the Nations Championship Tests against South Africa, Fiji and Argentina in July to prove that he can lead England out the other side. Itoje has spoken to Bill Sweeney, the RFU chief executive, and told him that responsibility rests with the players.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can go searching and looking for, \u2018This drastically needs to change, that drastically needs to change.\u2019 Honestly, I don\u2019t believe that\u2019s the case,\u201d he says. \u201cSo much of life is about persevering. We all have a plan that you want life to look like. Particularly in a sporting context, you want to win. <\/p>\n

\"MaroItoje is confident that England will learn lessons from their difficult Six Nationstimes photographer Marc Aspland<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately life doesn\u2019t work like that all the time. You have a decision to make, whether or not you\u2019re going to roll with the punches, whether you\u2019re going to decide to knuckle down, do the work, persevere. I think so much good comes from those who persevere. So much good comes from those who are able to navigate their own disappointments, setbacks, and respond.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the opportunity for me as an individual, and that\u2019s the opportunity for us as an England rugby team at the moment. We\u2019ve obviously had a disappointing Six Nations. But I do think in a couple of years we\u2019ll look back and be like, \u2018We learnt from that experience.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Leadership within the squad was affected by a few senior individuals managing personal challenges and not playing well, which in turn made it harder to drive standards. Itoje came into the Six Nations having barely played for three months as he recovered from a knee injury and dealt with the death of his mother<\/a>. <\/p>\n

When he joined up with England, having attended her funeral in Nigeria, Itoje was laid low with food poisoning. \u201cThere are a number of things we can do as players, senior players and myself to align more quickly,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The RFU review aims to understand why England played at times as if in a tactical straitjacket. England\u2019s struggles stemmed from\u00a0poor discipline \u2014 operating shorthanded for more than a full Test during the Six Nations \u2014 and their inability to convert pressure into points.<\/p>\n

\"EnglandItoje says that the players must shoulder a large portion of the responsibility for England\u2019s disappointing performances during the Six Nations, not just the head coach BorthwickDavid Rogers\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Again, Itoje insists that was on the players, not Borthwick. \u201cSteve didn\u2019t want us to play the way we were playing,\u201d he says. \u201cThat wasn\u2019t part of the plan. That wasn\u2019t part of how he coached throughout the week. But we unfortunately couldn\u2019t handle it. We spent way too much of the games with a man in the bin. And we weren\u2019t executing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were getting into the opposition 22 but we weren\u2019t converting. We weren\u2019t giving that extra pass. We weren\u2019t offloading like we did throughout 2025 [and 12 straight Test wins]. Looseness around the breakdown when we were in control. All of those things we didn\u2019t do as well as we should have done.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what or who triggered the positive shift in attacking intent for the France game? Itoje returns here to the theme of his conversation with Starmer and his advice to the children: in times of adversity, persevere and keep to the task at hand.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSteve showed us so many images that week of us moving the ball and playing on top of teams,\u201d Itoje says. \u201cHe had wanted us to do it earlier but given the situation we were in, it was really emphasised that week.<\/p>\n

\"MaroEngland\u2019s performance against France was much improved \u2014 and Itoje says that was in large part down to Borthwick telling his players not to \u201cplay safe\u201d and instead be the team that \u201cattacks the game\u201dTimes Photographer Marc Aspland<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018This is the team that I think you are. This is the team that I want you to be. I don\u2019t want you to play safe. I don\u2019t want you to just play within yourself, even if it\u2019s just a little bit. I want you to be this team that attacks the game.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThat France game was a reminder that if we do our stuff, if we play the way we want to play, we can beat anyone. That\u2019s how we want to play. That\u2019s how Steve wants us to play. That\u2019s how the coaches want us to play. So we just need to make sure we deliver on that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI take responsibility alongside the senior players. We need to make sure that the team is ready to go. There is truly no need for a revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Maro Itoje is on the seventh floor of the Clara Grant School in Tower Hamlets, east London. Through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-506502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}