It was the sight that no English rugby fan wanted to see. After 80 gruelling minutes at Welford Road last Sunday, Maro Itoje sunk to a knee, the lock clearly spent. It takes a lot to bow the England and Saracens captain but his exhaustion was clear; it was not just the strain of a gutsy Premiership win over Leicester taking its toll but the lingering impacts of a physically, emotionally and mentally draining Six Nations campaign, too.
English rugby’s iron man has played all 80 minutes of his side’s last 30 Six Nations games. Saracens’ win at Tigers was his 24th start of the season, a tally matched only by Northampton’s Tommy Freeman. Last season, encompassing the World Cup warm-ups and tour of New Zealand, Itoje’s campaign ran from 12 August to 13 July; this year, the 30-year-old will very much hope his final outing is in British and Irish Lions red in Sydney on 2 August.
