The China Mail - England eye statement win after New Zealand 'medicine': Itoje

Steve Borthwick's side lost 24-22 to the All Blacks at Twickenham on Saturday in a latest near-miss against top-quality opposition.

Aside from a Six Nations victory over Ireland in March, England have developed a habit of building winning positions against the world's best teams only to throw the game away in the closing stages.

Their three consecutive defeats by New Zealand under Borthwick have been by a combined 10 points. On each occasion they led in the final quarter.

With Tests against Australia, South Africa and Japan to come in November, England lock Itoje is confident the team can still provide concrete evidence of their progress under Borthwick.

"We will get there. We have to lick our wounds and take our medicine at the moment, but this team is building in a positive direction," he said.

"I think we are growing in the right areas of the game, we are aggressive in attack and there is a general feel of confidence and vibe amongst the players.

"We have had some agonising losses, but this is a different team to what it was 18 months ago with the way we play, the endeavour we show.

"Sometimes in the past when we lost, they were clear losses and we were clutching at straws. I don't feel we are clutching at straws now. We lost but we're close."

Next up for England is a clash with Australia at Twickenham on November 9 and Itoje expects a reaction to the New Zealand setback.

"We actually felt we deserved to win the game but ultimately we didn't and that's the most important thing," he said.

"But I do feel like we are genuinely moving in the right direction. Unfortunately we will have to take our medicine now, but I think we will get it."

Sale's England Under-20 prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour has been called up as loosehead cover after Joe Marler, an unused squad member on Saturday, announced his international retirement on Sunday.

The uncapped Opoku-Fordjour will provide cover for Ellis Genge and Fin Baxter.

M.Zhou--ThChM