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Lions ruling puts major milestone for captain Maro Itoje on hold
By Jon Newcombe
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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I’ve no idea what the Lions-Argentina game in Dublin is all about tbh, the Argentinian squad for various reasons is a shadow of their full test 23, and I think Kinghorn is still in France for the Lions.
It’s hard to get too invested into this lions tour, it’s too irish heavy, too foreign born player heavy, and when compared to player lists from previous tours…bang average.
There are barely more Irish players than English players which is hard on Ireland given the superiority over many years. Places are earned. I do think English entitlement borders on the ridiculous sometimes.