By Brendan Gallagher

It was Eddie Jones who insisted that Maro Itoje was not captaincy material, an opinion that seemed plain daft at the time and even more perverse now.
Why ever not was always my view. He stepped in as skipper for England Under-20 11 long years ago when they won the Junior World Cup in New Zealand and the following year led Saracens to the old A team league title.
He seemed on the perfect trajectory and while of course initially, after breaking into the England team, his priority was to become a world-class second row, as night follows day he was always going to skipper ...