England captain Maro Itoje has hit back at Will Carling's criticism of Steve Borthwick, which suggested his inexperience was holding the team back.

Carling captained England 59 times during a nine-year international career and, while speaking on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday, questioned the calibre of the coaching team ahead of their Six Nations game against Italy at the Allianz Stadium on Sunday.

While England have recovered from a defeat to Ireland in their Six Nations opener to beat France and Scotland by one point, they have been criticised for their style of play during the tournament.

But Itoje made it clear that the coaching staff, including Borthwick, had his full support.

"With all due respect to Will, I don't necessarily agree or accept that characterisation of our coaching staff," he told BBC Sport.

"I have been unbelievably impressed with how they have gone about their business and coached us.

"The players work really hard but the coaches, trust me, they work extremely hard.

"My experience of them has been nothing but positive. I think most people can see an improvement in the team and a large part of that is down to the work the coaches have done and the positions they are putting us in. I think we are tracking in the right direction."

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Borthwick became England's head coach in December 2022, having previously guided Leicester Tigers to the Premiership title in the same year. It is his first job as an international coach.

Asked if it was easy to shut out noise from external sources, Itoje made it clear there were no issues.

"It's a requirement. We play a public sport, in front of 80,000 at Allianz Stadium and millions at home every time we pull on an England jersey," he said.

"We want people to be engaged with rugby and have an opinion, because if they don't, it probably means they don't care, but as players, what we need to do is focus on what we deem important. That is the skill of anybody who lives a relatively public life.

"People will have an opinion on what you do, but what really matters is the opinion you have and the opinion of those in your circles."

England have won all 25 of their Six Nations matches against Italy. They are the only side to hold a 100% win rate against another team in the Championship.

England are in good form at home two, having won their last four Six Nations matches on home soil, with the last three of those coming by just one point. It is their longest such winning run since a 15-game streak between 2012 and 2018.