England’s Nigerian-born rugby team captain, Maro Itoje has received a strong bolt of advice for him to rest and skip the squad’s forthcoming chain of matches in the month of July, Sports247 reports.
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Surprisinginly, this advice is coming from no less a person than coach of The Lions, Steve Borthwick, who conceded that Itoje may have to miss England’s Nations Championship Tests versus South Africa, Fiji and Argentina.
Borthwick hinted that his skipper could skip the series in order to rest, as Itoje played more than 30 matches in previous two seasons, while also captaining the British and Irish Lions to a historic win in Australia.
He stressed that the 31-year-old star, who captained The Lions in their 2-1 series victory over Australia last summer, ultimately finishing his 2024/25 season in August, may have to miss the summer’s inaugural Nations Championship Tests.
Dramatically, Itoje began the season with lingering concussion symptoms after The Lions’ tour, and has been managing a knee injury, while also having exceeded the RFU’s player welfare guidelines in terms of match minutes for the last two seasons.
Consequently, Borthwick may deploy a totally different squad for the home game against Fiji, heading into which he revealed that candid conversations are already ongoing about Itoje taking a break this summer.
Borthwick said, “We look at each player on an individual basis. That conversation with Maro and Phil Morrow the head of performance, the three of us have met and have had that conversation. “Maro came into camp, as we agreed prior.
“He then left camp because we thought it was the right thing for him. Now, as I monitor over the next few weeks, each and every one of the players will be looking at what’s right for them and what’s right for the squad as we move forward.
“We are well aware of the last year or so that Maro has had, so it’s one of the conversations that’s ongoing. No decision been made but, as you would expect me to, it’s to look at each of the players and what’s the right thing to do with them.”
