‘Destructive’ Maro Itoje won’t be told to change his ways by England despite rising penalty count

England have no plans for a “destructive” Maro Itoje to change his ways despite his penalty count ramping up during the Six Nations.

The lock was responsible for five of his side’s 14 penalties in the 40-24 defeat to Wales two weekends ago.

But defensive coach John Mitchell highlighted the importance of the Saracens forward to England and told him to stick to his game plan.

“Ultimately at the end of the day, he’s colossal,” said Mitchell. “He’s one of the most destructive footballers in the world and we want him to continue to be that.”

England’s discipline has been among their greatest weaknesses in the Six Nations to date, the team conceding 41 penalties in their first three matches, two of which ended in defeat.

Mitchell said Itoje had spoken with head coach Eddie Jones about his own performances and alarming rise in penalties from arguably England’s best player in recent years.

And Mitchell added: “It’s about learning quickly and making sure you’re clear in what you need to do based on the situation in the match.”

In a bid to address their disciplinary, England have brought referees Wayne Barnes and Matthew Carley into camp in recent days in a bid to understand the reasoning behind their high penalty count against Scotland, Italy and Wales.

Of that officiating input, Mitchell said: “You’ve got to be careful that you don’t create artificial situations that are meaningless [in training]. We need awareness around why he [the referee] made that decision. It’s a really good opportunity to grow your awareness around refereeing decisions.”

England take on France this weekend and Mitchell said the team were enjoying a clean bill of health with every member of the squad taking part in full training on Tuesday.

With title ambitions now effectively erased, the aim is for England to recapture the sort of form that took them to the last World Cup final and won them the previous Six Nations campaign.

“We’ve still got a huge amount to play for because we want to find our best performance,” added Mitchell. “We haven’t found our best yet. We need to sort out are discipline. The key to that is how we respond.

“Not for one minute do we want to stop playing on the edge and continue to be physical. It’s just important that we’re cleverer and smarter.”