England coach Eddie Jones believes Maro Itoje is ready to “climb another Everest” by taking his game to the next level.
Itoje has already claimed over 50 caps for England and Jones believes the lock has already shown his quality. But, in the wake of Itoje’s performance against Ireland on Saturday, the England boss also thinks that the 27-year-old has more gears to go through.
Jones has backed Itoje to get even better and he sees no reason why the Saracens star cannot enjoy a second peak in his career.
“I like the way the team is developing, I like the spirit in the team, I like the combination of some of the older players,” said Jones. “I couldn’t be more pleased with the way someone like Jamie George has come back.
“Maro Itoje is going to another peak. He climbed Everest as a young player and he looks like he’s going to climb another Everest as a maturing player.
“Then we have got those young guys like Freddie [Steward] and Harry [Randall] and Marcus [Smith], who are all coming through nicely.”
England are next in action on Saturday, when they travel to take on Grand Slam hopefuls France in Paris.
The French are chasing their first Grand Slam title in over 10 years, but Jones believes they have weaknesses England can exploit.
“We are concerned about ourselves, but we will have ways in the game of putting them under pressure,” said Jones.
“The one thing I know is that there is not a team in the world, or there hasn’t been in the history of the game, that doesn’t have a chink in their armour.
“Every team has a chink in their armour and it’s your ability to be able to find that chink and then expose that chink, which is going to be the key on Saturday against France.”
