Apprentice Maro Itoje ready to replace the grand master

Maro Itoje could barely pluck up the courage to speak to Steve Borthwick when the pair first met at Saracens four years ago.
Things are different now, though, and having benefitted from Borthwick‘s tutelage as a member of the club’s academy, the lion-hearted England U20s lock is out to snaffle the old maestro’s place when he retires this summer.
“I hope there’ll be opportunities,” Itoje, 19, told TRP. “I love it at Saracens and hope to have more first team starts.
“With Steve retiring, I want to put pressure on our senior guys to get myself recognised and do well for the club.”
Borthwick was, and remains, Itoje’s hero. A keen student of the game, he has followed all of rugby‘s great second rows, but the man exerting the biggest influence has been the former England captain and 2007 World Cup finalist.
“Players I’ve admired are Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha, while at Saracens I talk a lot to senior guys like Mo Botha and Alistair Hargreaves. But the one who really stands out is Steve and he’s improved my game massively.
“When I first came down to Saracens he was captain of England, and the first time I saw him I could barely speak because I was so nervous. But we’ve since developed a player-coach type relationship and he really knows his stuff.
“He’d come into the academy to work on our lineout and when he sees something wrong in training he helps me out. I’ve tried to take it all on board and, importantly, he’s also shown a keen interest in my off-field endeavours.
“I’m doing a degree in politics and he did something similar, so he’s always asking about that and it’s nice to have a senior player showing such interest. To push on and succeed someone like Steve would be a dream come true.”
Itoje cites Nelson Mandela and Tony Blair amongst his political heroes, but has no particular desire to enter that sphere. The vote he wants to win is from the England U20s selectors for this summer’s Junior World Cup in New Zealand.
England were disappointed to finish second to France at the recent Six Nations, but the way they finished the tournament by thrashing Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Italy augurs well for their chances of defending the world title.
“We didn’t give the best account of ourselves against France, but we gelled quickly and were a very cohesive bunch by the end,” Itoje said. “We know how hard it’s going to be in New Zealand but it’s something we’re all looking forward to. The more games we played together during the Six Nations, the better we became, so we’ve got a chance to do something special.
“We talked briefly about what the boys did in 2013, but we’re a completely different team to last year and we want to set our own standards. What they did was amazing but now we’ve got our own aspirations and dreams.”
NEALE HARVEY