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Itoje wants year away from Saracens before career ends
Maro Itoje has pledged his commitment to Saracens for their upcoming season in the Championship, admitting there are currently no plans in the pipeline for a loan move elsewhere so that he can have a higher level of club league rugby leading into 2021 Lions tour. However, he did admit he would like to eventually leave the club before his career ends to experience the club scene outside England.
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A star on the 2017 Lions trip to New Zealand, England talisman Itoje has been the subject of much speculation that he could pitch up somewhere other than Saracens in the 2020/21 season on a short-term deal. An approach from Racing 92 to head to France for the season was reportedly blocked by Premiership clubs who insisted Eddie Jones must only select England-based players for his Test team.
That was followed by a link to South Africa, the speculation there suggesting Saracens would leave the second row to join one of their Super Rugby franchises after he completed the 2021 Six Nations campaign with England.
Itoje, though, has reaffirmed he is ready to stick with his Championship-bound club. “No, nothing is in place at the moment,” he said ahead of Saturday’s Champions Cup quarter-final at Leinster. “My focus is I have no direct plans of going somewhere at this point in time. I have nothing really to report.”
Relegated to the second-tier due to repeated salary cap breaches, Saracens will not be allowed to play in next season’s Champions Cup even if they get past Leinster and go on to win two more knockout stage games to successfully defend the title they won in Newcastle in 2019.
Ready for the weekend ⏳ pic.twitter.com/IaGC9UqySt
— Maro Itoje (@maroitoje) September 16, 2020
Itoje’s admission that he is sticking by Saracens in their Championship year was accompanied, however, by the soon to be 26-year-old forward admitting he will eventually ideally want a year away somewhere from Saracens before the end of his career.
“Definitely. At some stage in my life, I would love to play abroad. I have had a great life and am very privileged to play the sport that I love and experience the things that I experience.
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“But experiencing a different culture, experiencing a different style, just a different vibe, I have more or less lived in north-west London for the majority of my life and it’s a lovely place to live. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else in England but at the same time it will be nice and it will be great to experience something further down the line at some point.
“Do they play rugby in Barbados? I might play there,” he jested when asked which country he might like to go to. “I’m fairly open to where the future holds. I don’t really want to pigeon myself into a certain region or a place… but when the time is right I would love to spend at least a season somewhere.”
"Ultimately it’s all about caring for people. A lot of people had this ethos – and still do – to keep people keen, treat them mean. At Sarries it was the exact opposite"
– New @GlasgowWarriors assistant @kellydrbrown with @JLyall93 on @Saracens culture 👨💻https://t.co/bUD0AyAimf
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 18, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
Danny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
35 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
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