Declan Rice explains muted celebrations and reveals why he refused to accept armband from Harry Kane during England's win over Ireland

Kane was substituted off 84 minutes into his team's 2-0 victory in the Nations League and turned to Rice to take over as the team's captain. However, the midfielder was seen arguing with the striker as he urged him to give it to another player.

After Rice rebuffed him, Kane gave the armband to Manchester City centre-back John Stones to see out the game as captain, and Rice said he felt the defender deserved the honour due to his seniority in the England fold.

He explained: "Harry tried to give me the armband but obviously Stonesy is probably more senior and experienced than me. I just said to Harry that John deserves it more than me so I said to give it to John and that was it. It doesn’t need to be made into a bigger thing. I think John is one of the more senior ones and usually he’s captain when Harry doesn’t play so I think it was the right decision."

The midfielder will hope the Three Lions can build on their winning start to the Nations League campaign when they come up against Finland on Tuesday.