"The Habit of Winning" - Maro Itoje reveals the 'desire' as England climb to 3rd in World Rugby Rankings

So far this November, England have ran-out triumphant over Australia, Fiji and New Zealand for a solid trio of Autumnal accomplishments. The latest marquee win marked England's first victory over the All Blacks at the Allianz Stadium since 2012, with Steve Borthwick's side becoming only the ninth England team in history to defeat the Kiwis at the stadium known as 'HQ'.

England captain Maro Itoje believes that such a formidable run of form is by no means an end product, with the men who don the red rose out for more as the Autumn Series concludes this Sunday. England host Argentina for their fourth and final Test of November, with Itoje adamant that his squad will continue upon this honed 'habit of winning'.

"Winning is what you want. You want to have the habit of winning, we want winning to be the expectation." Itoje said, following England's 33-19 victory over the All Blacks. "It's great for them, and hopefully, when I'm old and weathered, I'll come back to Allianz Stadium in 10, 15, years, and these guys are still doing their thing, and they'll hopefully still be making these big wins and beat the All Blacks here."

"I've played them [New Zealand] a number of times. I've been fortunate enough to beat them a few times as well. But, it's always tough. You guys [the media] told me, only eight teams before this have done it, an English team. So, we want that number to grow, and we're happy to be number nine. But, we don't want to wait another six years for the number 10."

The victory over the All Blacks has propelled England up to third in the World Rugby Rankings, with Ireland now pushed down to fourth ahead of the all important 2027 Rugby World Cup draw closing in. The pool stages for the Australia-hosted tournament will be confirmed next month, with Itoje eager to push his side on further for England's final match of the year. Itoje expressed how such a series of success 'builds trust' within his teammates, with Argentina now standing between England and an Autumn Nations Series clean sweep.

"It builds trust in the plan. It builds trust in one another. You look to your left and to your right, and the trust and belief and the bond between your teammates become stronger as a result of being able to get these wins. We want to build, we're absolutely delighted. But as with any game, it wasn't perfect, and we want to get better. I have a feeling when I think about the squad and where we are, I look at this squad, there is a desire to get better and the desire to do more."

A definite area of dominance that England imposed upon the All Blacks was witnessed in the forward pack. Whilst the line-out consistency took some re-shaping, there was no denying the formidable force that was the England scrum, with the second half 'bomb squad' of Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Will Stuart once again blowing apart their opponents at the Allianz.

"We genuinely believe that our scrum is a weapon." Itoje revealed. "I think over the last year, we've been showing that, and it's been brilliant. I remember when Steve [Borthwick] first came in and he showed us the stats of where our scrum was at, and it's nowhere near where an English scrum should be. We've worked hard, with credit to the scrum coach Tom Harrison and the work of that the front row. But also, the back row and back five have done in terms of the application and mindset. We want to continue to build on that. We think it can be an even greater weapon for us to win Test matches."

Turning the scope upon the scrum-time engine room, Itoje was full of praise for his new-found locking partner Alex Coles. The Northampton Saints man stepped up to the second row in the injury-enforced absence of both George Martin and Ollie Chessum, with Coles selected to start despite the impressive training efforts of Bath man Charlie Ewels.

"The guys who came in were absolutely fantastic. I thought Alex Coles today was unbelievable. I thought he got through a lot of work. Charlie Ewels has come into camp this week, for the first time this campaign, he's been unbelievable. He's been a great resource for me. I've been playing with and against Charlie since we were about 17, 16, years old. He's a very smart guy, very smart line-out operator, and he was a great help today, as well as throughout the week."

With a career that has taken him around the world with repeated trips to the pinnacle of the rugby mountain top, Itoje expressed how he is now taking more time to be present in the moment. The 31-year-old marked off another career milestone in the Summer, as he captained the British & Irish Lions to a successful series win over Australia. Itoje expressed how he intends to savour each and every moment that comes in the England jersey.

"I've been fortunate enough to be around England for a while, and I've been fortunate enough to be around professional rugby before then. Sometimes this can just feel like a normal job, where your showing up to training or showing up to games, because you do it so regularly. Sometimes you have to take a step back and actually realise where you are, because sometimes you can forget.

"As we're singing the national anthem, I always take a look around as we're singing 'God save the king'. Seeing how Twickenham erupted with the anthem and how they would get behind the team, and it's actually a pinching moment. I've been fortunate enough to do it a number of times, but it's 'pinch me' moment. I think sometimes it's extremely helpful."

"To be a part of those games and those performances, is an honour. As Steve [Borthwick] said these are the moments that you want to be a part of. These are the moments, I remember when I was watching the [England vs New Zealand] game here in 2012, and jumping off my seat seeing Manu [Tuilagi] do his thing through the middle, seeing Brad Barritt pass the ball to Chris Ashton, who did his normal try celebration. This is what rugby is about. This is the dream that people always want to be a part of, so I'm just happy to play my role."