'I haven't completed rugby' – Maro Itoje on England captaincy and taking his game to 'another level'

Maro Itoje insists that the best way to underline his leadership credentials for England will be to take his game to “another level” and to become a greater attacking force this Six Nations.

Eddie Jones, the England head coach, has flip-flopped on Itoje’s captaincy potential since his side beat South Africa 27-26 at Twickenham last November.

In a book on leadership, released that month, the Australian suggested that Itoje was too “inward-looking” to assume the role. Weeks later, however, Jones told Brian Moore’s Full Contact podcast that he “had no doubt” Itoje would captain England “in the future”.

On the eve of Jones revealing his squad for the Six Nations, Itoje stressed his backing for Owen Farrell and Courtney Lawes, who led England in autumn Tests against Tonga, Australia and South Africa.

His priority, said the 27-year-old lock, would be to be “one of the best players on the pitch” when the Six Nations begins with a Calcutta Cup encounter against Scotland on February 5.

“In the media a lot of emphasis and noise is put around captaincy conversations,” Itoje said. “I completely understand the reason why, but it’s something completely out of my control.

“No player decides who is going to be captain and I am in full support of the players that are. Owen [Farrell] is my captain for club and country. He’s a fantastic player. Courtney did a great job in the autumn as well.”

“I just know there is another level to my game. I know, if I dedicate myself to training and looking to improve all aspects of my game, there is another level that I haven’t quite reached yet. It’s about achieving that. If I do that, it will have beneficial impacts on team-mates I am around.

“The most important part of leading is through your own performance. It’s tough to be a leader if you are not one of the best players on the pitch.”

Over what he described as a “rollercoaster” 2021, Itoje represented Saracens in the Championship before facing the Springboks on his second British and Irish Lions tour. He ended the year with his third nomination for World Rugby’s player of the year award.

Before that, there was a fifth-place finish in the Six Nations that caused Jones to axe a number of senior players, including Saracens team-mates such as Billy and Mako Vunipola, and to coin the mantra of ‘New England’. Itoje said that the tournament, featuring defeats by Scotland, Wales and Ireland, could “fuel the fire” for England this time around. He also endorsed Jones’ revamp.

“Whenever you produce performances like that, things have to change,” added Itoje, who was speaking as an Ambassador for Vitality, a health, life and car insurance and investments provider.

“Eddie shifted things. He changed personnel in terms of players, [put] a slightly different emphasis on different parts of our game, changed some coaches. It felt like a genuinely new team.

“The guys laid great foundations in the summer in the games against the USA and Canada. Then, going into the autumn, I thought we built on the great work of those guys. I like to think that was the line in the sand and nobody wants to return to that level of performance.”

Itoje volunteered the 40-24 loss to Wales, during which he conceded five penalties, as a particularly frustrating occasion that “I could have controlled better”. Revered for his defensive disruption around the field, he is also eager to become a more effective attacker.

“As a forward, collisions are always a massive part of the game,” Itoje said. “Defensive collisions have probably been one of the highlights of my game but there is so much growth on the attacking side, which is a string to my bow that I could add.

“Even with set piece, I think I am a very good set-piece forward, but there are areas of both scrum and line-out I could be better at. It’s about making areas that I would consider to be a strength even better.

“I’m not the most skilful player per se. You won’t see me throwing 30-metre passes or kicking a spiral kick from 22 to 22 like Jonny Hill.

“My game is built on repeated efforts, having the capacity to repeat efforts over and over and over again. The bigger base I can build with that, the more beneficial it will be to my overall game.”

With 51 England caps to his name alongside his six Test appearances for the Lions, Itoje’s aim is for consistent excellence and to be competing for silverware over the remainder of his career.

“While I’m on track, in terms of what I’ve done so far, I haven’t completed rugby,” he said. “Rugby, and sport in general, moves so quickly.”

“After the 2019 World Cup, everyone seemed to be consumed by the Lions tour of South Africa in 2021,” Itoje added. “That happened, and six months later, no one is talking about the Lions tour. Everyone is talking about the 2023 World Cup, now.

“Sport is so forward-looking, so if you dwell on the past, you fail to look forward and take your eye off what you need to do to perform and you are only going to regress as a player.

“I don’t want to have the type of career where I won in the early part of it and tailed off.”

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