England star screams at team-mate as unseen Six Nations footage emerges

Footage has surfaced showing England captain Maro Itoje screaming at fly-half Fin Smith during the second half of their Six Nations loss to Italy in Rome. Steve Borthwick's team suffered a 23-18 defeat at the Stadio Olimpico, plunging their Six Nations campaign deeper into turmoil.

Another loss next week in Paris - a match previously expected to be a grand slam decider - would represent their worst-ever Six Nations campaign. The Rugby Football Union maintain that Borthwick will remain in post for this summer's Test matches to mark the start of the new Nations Championship, but the head coach's long-term prospects remain uncertain.

The pressure is mounting on England - both on and off the pitch. BBC's Rugby Special uncovered footage revealing England discussing their options with a penalty whilst leading 12-10 early in the second half in Rome.

After securing the penalty from a scrum five metres out, hooker and vice-captain Jamie George instantly indicated to Itoje that England should kick for goal - holding up three fingers to the second-row.

However, seemingly just to keep Italy's defence guessing, prop Ellis Genge pretends to take a quick penalty before opting against it.

Itoje then speaks to his fly-half for several moments, before Genge appears to jokingly suggest they should go to the corner. Unimpressed, captain Itoje makes his intentions crystal clear regarding the penalty, shouting at Smith: "Don't argue with me, take the three."

After the clip was shown, host and former England wing Ugo Monye posed the question to two ex-Test captains - Scotland's John Barclay and Wales' Sam Warburton.

"It feels like a slight point of difference," Monye observed. "Some want to take the points, some want to go to the corner.

"I think it's a brilliant decision from Maro to take the three and stretch the lead to five points. But that level of indecision, is that indicative of where England currently are?"

First to respond, Barclay commented: "It's one of those where you can see Ellis Genge maybe trying to bring a bit of humour to it. I don't know if he genuinely meant they should take it to the corner.

"But in a game where England had to win and it was a tight game, you think do you want that level of background noise when you're trying to make a decision?".

"Maro has made the decision, Ellis was maybe having a little joke and Fin Smith has said are we putting it in the corner? For me, that probably highlights what's happened in the last couple of weeks.

"There's so much pressure there and there's a bit of an explosion. I don't think there's a huge amount in it, but it's probably indicative of where they are."

Warburton concurred that the incident was a consequence of the pressure they are presently facing.

"Jamie George just said three," revealed the former British and Irish Lions captain. "When you make those decisions, there's probably four or five of you on the field where you'll look at each other and have a quick bit of decision-making.

"Maro knew it was going to be three. Fin Smith was questioning it. Maro was right to put his foot down, but pressure does funny things to you. It just shows the pressure this group are under right now."