Goode: He needs to be looked after a lot better<\/p>\n
For two seasons running, Itoje has sailed past the RFU\u2019s own guideline that players should not play more than 30 matches. We were assured by oh so clever people that this was all being monitored and would not be a problem. Well it clearly is. Alex Goode, Itoje\u2019s long-term Saracens team-mate, is known for his relaxed demeanour but was almost spitting with rage when discussing his workload. \u201cHe has been run into the ground already,\u201d Goode told Telegraph Sport. \u201cPersonally I feel it is going to become really hard for him if he is not managed soon. It is not age \u2013 he is 31 \u2013 it is the number of games he has played. He needs to be looked after a lot better.\u201d Another ex-team-mate mentioned how tired Itoje seemed when he last saw him.<\/p>\n
However Itoje\u2019s form has been this year, there is no doubting his class. On the biggest stage \u2013 World Cups and Lions tours \u2013 the 31-year-old elevates his game to a new level and takes his team-mates with him. The same applies to Tom Curry, who was very close to being the Lions\u2019 best performer in Australia, but now seems a shadow of himself.<\/p>\n
There is no time for dilly-dallying. This Six Nations is gone for England. Leave Itoje and a few other Lions at home for the trips to Rome and Paris.<\/p>\n
I would go further still and arrange a sabbatical for Itoje starting at the end of this domestic season and lasting six months. This would be unpopular with Borthwick, Saracens and Itoje who would not want to abandon the team as captain. It would also go well beyond the remit of the Professional Game Partnership between the RFU and Prem Rugby, but it is time for the former to start securing value for that considerable investment.<\/p>\n
Go back to the bigger picture: what\u2019s more important, the new Nations Championship or the World Cup? Again, England need Itoje in peak form and fitness.<\/p>\n
Itoje has been England\u2019s crown jewel for the past decade and yet has been treated with next to no care and attention. The game limits exist for a reason. To paraphrase a popular social media saying, mess around and find out. Well, the Rugby Football Union has messed around and now it needs bold, decisive action to remedy its mistake.<\/p>\n
Itoje lacking match sharpness, admits Borthwick<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Goode: He needs to be looked after a lot better For two seasons running, Itoje has sailed past…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5337,7166,15700,5903,23451,217,101,5831,58919,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-440477","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-comment","9":"tag-england-rugby-union-team","10":"tag-maro-itoje","11":"tag-rugby","12":"tag-rugby-union","13":"tag-sport","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-steve-borthwick","16":"tag-top-story","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440477","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=440477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}