Maro Itoje will be named captain of the British & Irish Lions squad to tour Australia on Thursday, the Guardian understands. Itoje is set to become the first Englishman to lead the Lions in 24 years when he is unveiled as part of Andy Farrell’s squad announcement at a live event at the O2.
Itoje, the England captain, became the overwhelming favourite for the role when it emergedCaelan Doris had suffered a shoulder injurylast weekend that required surgery. The Ireland captain is a doubt for the tour of Australia, clearing the way for Itoje to be selected as captain and lead what is understood to be a 40-strong squad.
The 30-year-old lock is set for his third Lions tour, having excelled as the youngest member of the squad in 2017 against New Zealand. He was also among the standout players in the Covid-hit series defeat by South Africa in 2021 and has started the last five Lions Tests.
Four years ago, the then England captain Owen Farrell was selected for the tour of South Africa but he was the first since 2005 with Steve Borthwick (2009), Chris Robshaw (2013) and Dylan Hartley (2017) all overlooked. Itoje is set to break the recent mould, however, and become the first English Lions captain since Martin Johnson led his second consecutive tour in 2001.
Itoje has been earmarked as a leader ever since he broke on to the international scene, having captained England Under-20s to the junior World Cup title in 2014. It was only this season that he was installed as Saracens captain, however, while on the eve of the Six Nations he was promoted to England captain by Steve Borthwick, replacing clubmate Jamie George.
Under his leadership, England lost their opening Six Nations match against Ireland but have won their last four in a row,prompting Borthwick to endorse Itoje’s credentialsas Lions captain. Borthwick said: “I think Maro’s been absolutely outstanding. He leads by example and he’s stepped up his game. He’s improved in many areas in this campaign. I’d be fully confident in Maro to lead the Lions should Andy ask him.”
Only the Lions captain finds out of their selection before Thursday’s live event where the chair, Ieuan Evans, will read out the list of Farrell’s squad in front of what organisers hope will be around 2,000 paying spectators. As of earlier this week, a number of tickets – costing £65 a head – remained unsold for an event that can be streamed for free.
Farrell and his assistant coaches, meanwhile, convened on Wednesday for a final selection meeting with a number of injury headaches, including Doris, to contend with. Of the 40 players he is expected to select, 22 are set to be forwards. Four years ago Warren Gatland initially selected 37 players but did not have a midweek match between the first and second Tests to contend with as the Lions do this year.
On Wednesday night, as this year’s captain, Itoje was due to attend a dinner with a host of former players who have previously held the role including Johnson, Sam Warburton and Brian O’Driscoll. This week, the Saracens director of rugby, Mark McCall, gave a glowing appraisal of Itoje’s captaincy credentials.
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“He has thrived on the England captaincy as well and he played really well in the Six Nations, but he has played even better for us since then,” said McCall, who believes the second-row is in the best form of his career. “Maro has absolutely thrived on all of that leadership.
“Maro is very much a leader by what he does and how consistent he is. He is playing as well as he has ever played, so if he is chosen to be captain the good news is that he’s right on top of his game at the moment and he’s as fit as he can be. He is feeling good about his body and I have been super impressed with the way he’s gone about the captaincy at our club.
“Maro is somebody who delegates when he needs to. He makes sure that when he speaks, people are going to listen because what he says is important. He is very, very good at using some of the senior players around him and of course on any Lions trip there are going to be lots of good leaders. One of the things that Maro is great at is using that leadership group.”