Boks celebrate in 2019. Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images

The Springboks celebrate in 2019. Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images

Watch: Carter urges Itoje to learn from Rugby World Cup heartache

England lock Maro Itoje revealed that he had only just rewatched the match, as it was just too painful a prospect.

Boks celebrate in 2019. Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images

The Springboks celebrate in 2019. Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images

All Black legend Dan Carter has urged England lock Maro Itoje to learn from the painful Rugby World Cup final defeat to the Springboks.

Itoje joined Carter for an IGTV videocast where he discussed the 32-12 defeat to the Springboks in Yokohama.

Itoje to learn from Rugby World Cup heartache

The Saracens lock revealed that he had only just rewatched the match, as it was just too painful a prospect. He said that he was finally ready to learn from the experience.

“The final was extremely disappointing and it took me a long while to be able to watch the final. It was too painful.

“The first time I watched it back was during the lockdown and I wanted to take lessons from it.

“There are always lessons in victory and defeat and allowing my emotions to watch the game will make me a better player. It was still painful to watch, but I’m more optimistic about the future than the past and we have a lot of good years left in us.”

Itoje had a decent game in the final even as England’s pack were overwhelmed but there will be lessons he can take out of the match, even if it is just to not knock out your starting prop inside the first ten minutes.

Carter’s advice

Carter said it was important for Itoje to learn from failure and used examples from his own career. Carter went to three Rugby World Cups before finally lifting the Webb Ellis Trophy in 2011.

“In a funny way, I’m glad that Maro is hurting a little bit because my first World Cup in 2003 I got over in four or five days. Then I had a lot of success after that and got to 2007 and wasn’t hurting as much as I should have from 2003.

“We got dealt with by the French in the quarterfinals and that one really hurt for a good six months.

“Through that hurt, you do digest what went wrong as a team and admitted we weren’t a good team when it came to pressure. I’m not saying England were the same as us but there has to be something in there that they will learn from and become stronger.

“We learnt from 2007 and that was the platform for us to be successful in 2011 and 2015. England now have a lot of guys who have experience and know what it took to get all the way to the final but not quite get there and that will hurt. It will feed their hunger come four years’ time.”

Carter also offered advice to all rugby players, urging them to consider life outside of the game at all times.

“The lockdown has shown that rugby can be quite fragile, not only on an individual level but also on a global level. You do need to have other strings to your bow,” he said.

“There is only so much training you can do in lockdown and that is a little blessing in disguise and it forces you to think about interests outside rugby and what is my life going to look like for me when rugby has finished.

“It has been a great experience for players to go through this process which they might not have thought too much about leading into this.”

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