Maro Itoje: ‘Whenever England take the field we should win’

The question is inevitable and Maro Itoje, to his credit, has the punchline ready. “I can assure you I’m not in the middle of a career transition and looking to take to the Old Vic stage,” he says, chuckling. What a letdown. When England’s head coach, Eddie Jones, revealed last year that he had sent his best forward away for acting lessons, surely a West End debut was only a matter of time?

It seems not. Instead Itoje is as committed to the day job as ever, with his Equity card still in the post. “I think there was a bit of miscommunication,” he continues, insisting the “communication classes” he attended with the team psychologist, Andrea Furst, and an external specialist fell some way short of an audition for Othello. “While I don’t think I was necessarily bad at communicating – I think I’m fairly articulate and can get a message across – there’s always room for growth. When the opportunity arose I said: ‘OK, let me take advantage of this resource that is available.’”

Tellingly Jones has also since retracted the words from the book passage in which he described Itoje as an unlikely future England captain because he was too “inward-looking”. It was a pretty harsh message for the only player in his squad who would be an automatic pick for a current World XV. If England prosper in the 2022 Six Nations, the Saracens lock will be a major reason why. So how is Itoje feeling now, physically and mentally? Fine, though a bout of Covid – “a bit of a cough, heavy chest and fatigue” – just before Christmas did slow him down temporarily.

Crucially he senses he and England are in a better place than last year when they finished fifth in the Six Nations. More relaxed Covid protocols this time, he argues, could help England more than