Lions ruling puts major milestone for captain Maro Itoje on hold

Tour captain Maro Itoje will have to wait to make his 100th Test appearance after the British & Irish Lions confirmed to RugbyPass that caps won’t be awarded for Friday’s 1888 Cup match against Argentina.

Back in 2005, when Sir Clive Woodward’s Lions drew 25-25 with Argentina in Cardiff, caps were awarded.

Itoje currently has 93 caps for England and six for the Lions, from two previous tours in 2017 and 2021. However, he will not join the centurions club until at least July 19th,  the date of the first Test between the Lions and Australia.

It is consistent with the policy laid out in November 2021, when the Lions belatedly declared that caps would only be awarded in matches against the host union’s national representative side.

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British & Irish Lions

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Initially, it was thought that the inaugural 1888 Cup match against Japan at Murayfield, on the eve of the 2021 tour to South Africa, was a full-cap game,

However, the status of the match was only made official over three months after the match was played in June, with the Lions opting not to classify it as a Test, even though Japan and World Rugby recognised it as one.

The ruling affected Owen Farrell’s Test stats, with the ex-England captain only officially making his 100th Test appearance against Australia in the second of England’s Autumn Internationals that year.

While Argentina have yet to make their position officially known, RugbyPass understands that Los Pumas have also decided against awarding caps in the Dublin showdown.