Ex-England captain: Resting ‘drained’ Maro Itoje for Springboks Test is the ‘right’ call
England captain Maro Itoje and an inset of Chris Robshaw.
There is no better time than this summer for captain Maro Itoje to be rested, according to three former England stars.
Head coach Steve Borthwick has yet to make a call on whether the experienced forward and leader will miss the Nations Championship matches with England taking on South Africa, Fiji and Argentina.
No better opportunity
However, he has stated that some senior players may be rested for the three matches and former scrum-half Ben Youngs believes that there is no better time before the upcoming Rugby World Cup for Itoje to take some time off. He adds that it is very much needed after the lock’s efforts with Saracens, the Lions and England.
“You think about the Lions tour and the load that he’s had not only as an England player but also as a Saracen and a Lion, there’ll be a lot of, ‘Oh, you’re losing that experience’ but one thing it gives other people an opportunity,” Youngs said on the For the Love of Rugby podcast.
“You’ve got George Martin who’s now fit again, who has missed a bucketload of rugby, so he can slot in. You’ve got Ollie Chessum who is doing a great job in captaining Leicester Tigers this season; he could potentially come, and I’d love to see him maybe given the opportunity to captain England. But the big thing for me is we’re not far out from a World Cup, and if you’re going to rest Maro, this is probably the only window that you can do.”
The decision should be taken out of his hands
Former England and Harlequins captain Chris Robshaw joined Youngs and co-host Dan Cole on the podcast. The 39-year-old agreed with Youngs that Itoje should be rested this summer and highlighted a factor that many people are overlooking.
He believes that the England captain will be reluctant to take the break and perhaps the decision should be taken out of his hands.
“I think the other thing that people probably don’t take into account is Maro hasn’t only played for these teams; he has captained them,” the former flanker remarked.
“So, every team he’s gone into, he’s always had to be front and centre; he’s had to have the energy. He can’t really shirk anything, can’t hide it. Whether that be Lions with England, unfortunately, he had the loss of his mother, which would have taken a lot out of him. And then he goes back to post-England stuff, back to Saracens.
“I remember when I was Quins and England captain. At that stage whether I had a good or bad campaign with England and you’ve been away from club for a long time you’re one of the senior guys you’re the captain the coaches expect you to be front of stage straight away, so you’ve got to be the energy again because obviously you’re one of the experienced, the high earners all that kind of stuff and it does drain you.
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“Look, no one wants to be rested, especially if you’re captain, and it’s that other thing where you give someone else an opportunity, but as you said, someone needs to make that call for him and say, ‘You know what, this is the right thing for you. This is the right thing for England.’ And I personally think it’s a great decision. I’m sure it’s very hard, but for him, have a summer off, then have a good pre-season at the club with a World Cup coming up soon; it’s his only real time to have a good pre-season.
“He could probably have six or seven weeks. He can slowly get into it. I’m sure in his body he’s got some knocks and niggles, but I think it’s a great decision and it’ll be interesting how this summer tour goes with where the games are as well.”
Can England cope without Maro Itoje?
That prompted Youngs to ask the question whether England can afford to rest Itoje for the match against the Springboks at Ellis Park, to which Cole emphatically responded ‘Yes’.
He argues that in hindsight, he should have missed the Six Nations and didn’t benefit from a controlled return to play that Ireland players did.
“Maro never got the opportunity. On reflection, you’d have probably rested him in the Six Nations if you knew how the Six Nations would have gone because at the start of the tournament you could see they weren’t physically firing,” the former prop said.
“You could have had a good block of six weeks of just decompressing and giving them time, which you’ll get back in a year’s time, but I think in the autumn you rest and you rely on the squad depth because there’s also some decisions in that squad where we talk about having a 34-man squad for the World Cup, there are some decisions there you need to know who is your third choice or fourth choice lock. To find depth, you have to test people and find out about them, and at some point you’ve got to play the Springboks potentially at the World Cup.”
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World Cup is the goal
Robshaw argued that there is no better litmus test for an England player than facing the Springboks at Ellis Park, adding that it’s a great opportunity for Borthwick to find that next layer of leadership in the group.
“The World Cup is their goal; that’s what they’re going to be judged on if they lose in Ellis Park, which of course we don’t want, but it’s going to be hard, isn’t it? We’ve all been there. It’s a tough place to go. It’s not the end of the world [if England lose] as long as it’s a good performance, they make it competitive, all that kind of stuff. Of course, you want to win, but the goal is that World Cup,” he said.
“I think for Steve, and the coaching group, Maro is a captain. Like, he is the leader. He is the focus point, but who’s next on that rank? Is it Chessum, who is brilliant for Leicester and looks like a future England captain, but obviously, if there are a couple of injuries, that squad gets a little bit stressed. Who are those voices that are really kind of stepping up? It’s a great hostile environment; if ever you want to learn about your players, it’s going to Ellis Park.”
