It was a day that always felt destined to come. From the moment that Maro Itoje pulled on an England shirt in 2016, a 21-year-old lock looking right at home at Test level, it seemed virtually certain that he would one day ascend to the highest of playing offices.
The qualities that marked Itoje out back then as a special talent remain after his elevation to the captaincy. A leader by action and word, the second row is approaching his second decade in an England shirt without yet coming under serious threat for his place in the side; even amid a worrying battle with a health issue a couple of years ago, the exact details of which remain undisclosed, Itoje endured as one of his side’s best performers. When Eddie Jones dismissively declared Itoje as “inward-looking” and the wrong type of leader for his side during his tenure as coach, the lock took the criticism on the chin, knuckled down and got better – but refused to bend or buckle on his style.
