Sat in the delightful evening sunshine of Girona, Maro Itoje was deftly deflecting the questions he knew were going to come. It was October at England’s pre-Autumn Nations Series training camp in Catalunya and a British and Irish Lions year dawned. Sprawled out on the terrace in the plush surroundings, taking each question in turn with the due consideration and care that are his trademark as an orator, Itoje neatly said a lot while revealing very little when probed about his memories of past trips and captaincy ambitions.
“It’s an ambition of every British and Irish player to wear that red jersey,” Itoje admitted, though there was not too be any extended elaboration despite The Independent’s best efforts. “The most important thing is performance and I’ve got to make sure I am performing at a level that befits that jersey.
