England can restore Maro Itoje to his peak – which they desperately need

Ian Peel, the Saracens forwards coach, has been working with Itoje since the second-row was 15 years old.

“Watching some of the recent England games back, you look at his work around the contact area and breakdown, his work off the ball,” says Peel. “You have to look really closely and maybe because of instances in the past, people are looking and waiting for big moments. It’s harder and harder to see those moments at Test level because teams are so good now.

“The magic bits where people go ‘wow’, they don’t happen so much at Test level. It’s all the little bits done really, really well. For me, watching those last few games, that’s where Maro has been.”

Take a deep dive into Itoje’s statistics as an England player this year, looking at his averages over 80 minutes, and interesting trends emerge. If it feels like you are seeing less of those ‘wow’ moments, well, that is because less of them are happening. Compared to his peak attacking years between 2017-2019, his number of carries, metres gained, defenders beaten and line breaks are all low. 

However, one area is high: dominant carries. An average of three carries over the gain line per 80 minutes is close to Itoje’s best, suggesting that when he does carry, he is more productive.

In which area is he setting personal bests? Hitting rucks. Itoje this year is posting highs for arrivals at attacking and defensive rucks, along with ruck effectiveness. His role has slightly changed – less involved in carrying and turnovers, with more onus on Itoje to slow down opposition jackalers and in attack to clear rucks quickly for . . . England to box-kick. In fact, among all ‘Tier One’ locks who have played at least 160 minutes this year, Itoje ranks No 1 in one area: attacking rucks joined. He is also second for turnovers in the tackle.

Consigning Itoje mainly to ruck clearing feels like a waste of a lot of talent. On the evidence of this year, England need the old Maro. Peel knows better than most how to get Itoje fizzing.

“He’s always been coachable, open to ideas, prepared to take things on board. It’s not just his intelligence, it’s his work ethic. He goes away and he’s fairly bloody-minded about, ‘This is what I’m going to do and I’m going to make it work’,” Peel explains.

“If you keep challenging his game, seeing areas where he can improve and get better, that is where he really thrives. If he can see there is going to be growth for the team, not just himself, then he properly buys in and goes for it.”

Kelly Brown, the former Scotland captain who has played alongside and coached Itoje, noted that Itoje had embraced his role leading Saracens’ lineout, with Itoje “essentially in charge of the session” in the run-up to the club’s Gallagher Premiership final win earlier this summer.

It would be remiss to not discuss Itoje’s big celebrations for what appear to be minor moments. Those whoops and shouts seem to rile up everyone from supporters to World Cup-winning coaches. For Brown, the outbursts are a sign that Itoje is in the zone.

“When you see him on the pitch and he is just energised and a relentless nause, that’s when you know he is at his best,” adds Brown. “I know it winds some people up and annoys people, but when he is celebrating little wins he is doing it for him and the team. He’s not even thinking about the opposition, he’s trying to drive and build energy in the team.”

Let’s be honest, England need something to lift them. However their campaign in France plays out after a horrid build-up, Peel is sure of one thing.

“It’s difficult to say having not been in camp, but clearly it’s not been a great month, or six months. But one thing we all know is that Maro is a world-class player. Knowing him, it’s this sort of world stage he’s on now with everyone against him – if ever there was a time for it to come out, then it’s probably this.”