‘I don’t regret it at all’ – Maro Itoje opens up on extended break as England captain hopes to ‘come back better’
England captain Maro Itoje was given an extended break during the off-season, missing the Nations Championship in the process
England captain Maro Itoje believes his off-season rest was, in retrospect, the correct decision, and his return will prove it.
The 31-year-old forward was given an extended summer break at the end of Saracens’ PREM Rugby campaign, which saw him miss England’s Nations Championship Tests against the Springboks, Fiji and Argentina.
Itoje surpassed World Rugby’s player load guidelines of 30 matches per season in both 2024/25 and 2025/26. As well as the increased on-pitch demands, his mother passed away in December last year.
‘I don’t regret it at all’
Despite having the summer off, Itoje is expected to play a key role for both Saracens and England this season, culminating in the 2027 Rugby World Cup campaign, and he admitted that he felt he could come back stronger from his extended break.
“It’s been a little bit different to how it normally is; but all in all, it’s been amazing,” he told reporters.
“I feel very good for it; I don’t regret it at all. In some respect it’s a little bit weird, being away from the team while Tests are going on, but I feel it was the right thing to do. I praise Steve (Borthwick) and Phil (Morrow, England head of performance) for coming to that conclusion, and very much look forward to what’s to come.
“It’s both the mental and physical recovery. I would argue the mental recovery was far more significant than physical. Physically, I was fine at the end of the season, and I feel like I’m in a good physical condition. Mentally, it was a heavy year and a busy year, both personally and professionally, so it was nice just to have some time to take a breath.”
His extended break was also the first time Itoje has not spent the summer with the England squad since his Test debut back in 2016, which also came after a brief spell with the senior squad ahead of the 2015 World Cup, and he detailed the ‘weird’ feeling of watching the side.
“It was weird (watching England), it was very strange. I actually didn’t watch any of them live, though; I watched them in retrospect to try and remove some of the emotion from watching it. That’s the beauty of live sport: you’re in every nook and cranny, but that has some hidden emotional weight, and the whole point of the rest was to get back on an even keel.
“I wasn’t avoiding the score; I’d watch it knowing the score and I’d often keep up with the score but just not watch it. I’d keep up and know roughly what was happening, but I didn’t want to be that much in it all the time. Otherwise, I would have defeated the purpose of what I was trying to achieve.”
“I coincidentally bumped into the squad on their way back from South Africa at the airport, which was a massive coincidence! There were some light touches; I kept in touch and wished the boys well. I also know what it’s like in camp and when you’re going through it, I didn’t want to be too much in their grill. I did keep in touch, though.
“In many ways it’s a huge blessing. Since I’ve been involved with England, I’ve pretty much been involved in every campaign, and for a large period of that time Saracens were going deep in Europe and deep in the PREM. That’s also helped with Lions selections.
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“I’ve been very fortunate to have what I’ve had, but the cost of that is that you don’t tend to have a break, or the break you do have is very short. The internationals now have had their five or six weeks off, depending on the club, but in three to four weeks they will be playing the first PREM game. That’s a three- or four-week pre-season.”
‘I just had it in my mind that you have to power through’
The final decision to give Itoje the summer off came after discussions with both Borthwick and England head of performance, Phil Morrow, and the lock detailed that it was actually the England coaches who had pitched the idea to him.
“I was taken aback initially, mainly because it just never entered my mind,” he said. “It was never something I thought was an option, and I just had it in my mind that you have to power through.
“I was taken aback. We didn’t make any decision there and then, but then we started to reflect on it, and the more I thought about it, the more I agreed with it and thought it was the right thing for me.
“If I wasn’t going to do it then, I’m not sure when the next window would have been. Now I’m grateful for that, and I hope the break has given me what’s necessary to come back better.”
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