{"id":383618,"date":"2026-01-22T05:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T05:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/383618\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T05:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T05:44:13","slug":"england-are-not-short-of-second-rows-but-they-do-not-have-another-itoje","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/383618\/","title":{"rendered":"‘England are not short of second-rows. But they do not have another Itoje’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

All being well Maro Itoje<\/a> will win his 100th England<\/a> cap at the midway point of the Six Nations<\/a> Championship.<\/p>\n

He is already a Test centurion, of course, by dint of his nine Lions<\/a> caps, but the Ireland<\/a> game on 21 February should see him become just the ninth player in history to reach that landmark for England.<\/p>\n

All being well. What happens, God forbid, if Itoje has a mishap?<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old, as automatic a selection as there exists for any side in Test rugby, is such an assumed presence that it is almost unthinkable to imagine a Six Nations game without him.<\/p>\n

He has started the last 30 for England. The last time he missed one was in the 2018\/19 season. His injury record, in such a physical position as second-row, is incredible.<\/p>\n

\"MaroItoje and Alex Coles<\/a> started England\u2019s win over New Zealand<\/a> and their final November Test against Argentina (Photo Dan Mullan\/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

But Steve Borthwick<\/a> would not be Steve Borthwick if he had not given some thought to what happens if his captain goes down during the championship.<\/p>\n

It is not quite as simple as the next cab off the rank.<\/p>\n

The man who started last season\u2019s championship alongside Itoje, George Martin<\/a>, is a long-term injury absentee.<\/p>\n

Bath\u2019s Charlie Ewels<\/a>, a reliable stand-in lock for England down the years, is also out of action.<\/p>\n

His most likely combination would be Ollie Chessum<\/a>, who toured as a Lion with Itoje last summer, and Alex Coles<\/a>, who has been in fine form for Northampton.<\/p>\n

So Borthwick, a habitual scenario planner, would need to be a little more creative.<\/p>\n

His most likely combination would be Ollie Chessum, who toured as a Lion with Itoje last summer, and Alex Coles, who has been in fine form for Northampton.<\/p>\n

This was the duo he went for against Fiji<\/a> in the autumn when Itoje was used as a replacement.<\/p>\n

When he names his squad on Friday for the championship, those two are sure to be included. The alternatives he will have sifted through are varied.<\/p>\n

Saracens\u2019 Nick Isiekwe<\/a> started the First Test against Argentina<\/a> last summer. Gloucester\u2019s Arthur Clark<\/a> also travelled on that tour.<\/p>\n

When England A<\/a> played New Zealand\u2019s second-string in the autumn, Borthwick was able to take a look at Bristol\u2019s workhorse Joe Batley<\/a> and the up-and-coming Tom Lockett<\/a> from Northampton.<\/p>\n

\"JoeJoe Batley has started all but one of Bristol\u2019s Prem and Champions Cup games this season, and also scored a try for England A against a NZ XV (Photo Dan Istitene\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The following week, when they played Spain, Sale\u2019s Ben Bamber<\/a> and Saracens\u2019 Olamide Sodeke<\/a> were given a run, with Bath\u2019s Ewan Richards<\/a> used off the bench.<\/p>\n

Borthwick has even shown a taste for deploying Chandler Cunningham-South<\/a> as a second-row \u2013 although that has been exclusively off the bench.<\/p>\n

England, as ever, are not short of players.\u00a0The fact remains though that for all those possibilities, England do not have another Itoje.<\/p>\n

For me, the biggest problem for England is that there aren\u2019t many bulky thugs. That Will Skelton<\/a>, Emmanuel Meafou<\/a>, Romain Taofifenua<\/a>, Eben Etzebeth<\/a> figure.<\/p>\n

World Cup-winning second-row Ben Kay\u2019s assessment is that while his absence would not be an issue against lesser sides, it would present a huge problem against the very best.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are plenty of areas within the England squad where there is almost too much choice, but lock isn\u2019t one of them,\u201d said Kay.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really starting to become a big fan of Ben Bamber at club level \u2013 I think there is a step up to international level but that\u2019s not to say he couldn\u2019t do it. Joe Batley is another one I really like.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, for me, the biggest problem for England is that there aren\u2019t many bulky thugs. That Will Skelton, Emmanuel Meafou, Romain Taofifenua, Eben Etzebeth figure. George Martin<\/a> was a massive loss. He has had a lot of injury problems but if you look at how he played at the World Cup, that was where he was being positioned.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the size of Itoje and Chessum, you can hide that and not have that style of player, even though they are not out and out enforcers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you lose Itoje, you can put two really good second-rows in there \u2013 Chessum and Coles, say \u2013 but you are then starting to depower the side, particularly given England do not have massive props.<\/p>\n

\"MaroOllie Chessum tackle Emmanuel Meafou\u201d width=\u201d1200\u2033 height=\u201d800\u2033 \/> Itoje and Chessum are both over 6ft 6in and 18 stone but England currently lack an \u2018enforcer\u2019 the size of Emmanuel Meafou<\/a> (with ball) (Photo Shaun Botterill\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s fine when you are playing against even the likes of New Zealand, it\u2019s when you are coming up against sides that have that sort of player like France<\/a> and South Africa<\/a> that it becomes a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are a handful of players whose value counts double, treble even. Itoje, like Kay\u2019s old Tigers sparring partner Martin Johnson<\/a> before him, now fits into that bracket.<\/p>\n

Itoje is different from Johnson temperamentally \u2013 there have been fewer run-ins with the disciplinary beaks in his career \u2013 but he has evolved into a comparable totem figure.<\/p>\n

His physical attributes have always been there as a strangling second-row of the highest order and lineout giant but now he has shown his value as a leader too, he has become even more of an irreplaceable presence.<\/p>\n

When he was substituted against Argentina in November because of the knee injury that would keep him out for six weeks, it was the first time he had been replaced in an England Test since July 2022. It was proof he is human.<\/p>\n

Eddie Jones never viewed him as captaincy material but his calm authority since Borthwick turned to him has been impressive.<\/p>\n

In the same moment he has managed to be both wise owl and warrior.<\/p>\n

With the unique swirling crosswinds of the Six Nations about to blow again, England should not take for granted how fortunate they are to have a leader of boundless stamina that they can rely on to stay the course.<\/p>\n

When he was substituted against Argentina in November because of the knee injury that would keep him out for six weeks, it was the first time he had been replaced in an England international since July 2022. It was proof that he is human.<\/p>\n

England would be wise to at least consider a Six Nations Plan B \u2013 not that Borthwick would want to use it.<\/p>\n

The memory scrolls back to 2000 and England\u2019s failed Grand Slam mission in Edinburgh. Clive Woodward opted to go into the game without Johnson, who was fit but had missed the preceding four matches in the championship through injury, and England lost to the Scots on a Murrayfield skidpan.<\/p>\n

\"SimonSimon Shaw<\/a> and Garath Archer<\/a> (scrum cap) started England\u2019s Grand Slam tilt against Scotland<\/a> but they missed Martin Johnson\u2019s presence (Photo Dave Rogers\/Allsport via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The England coach stuck with Garath Archer and Simon Shaw as his second-row pairing instead and the game duly unravelled.<\/p>\n

If the 2026 championship comes down to a Grand Slam shootout against France in Paris on the final weekend, there are no circumstances under which Borthwick would voluntarily do without his captain.<\/p>\n

Itoje is just too important to the mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All being well Maro Itoje will win his 100th England cap at the midway point of the Six…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-383618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}