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Six Nations 2026 Awards - and our Team of the Tournament
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Mark McCall goes against the grain with surprising take on Maro Itoje's workload
By Chris Jones
Saracens boss Mark McCall has revealed England captain Maro Itoje will be rested for Friday night’s PREM rugby clash at Bath, but the club will not be giving him an extended break from the game following a difficult Six Nations.
England lost four matches and ended fifth, their worst-ever position in the Six Nations table, while Itoje had to deal with the emotional blow of losing his mother just before the championship kicked off, raising concerns about the mental and physical pressure he was having to deal with.
McCall insisted Itoje was happy to continue playing once his mandatory week off had been completed and said: “We will definitely rest Maro and Jame George immediately. It’s been a very busy six or seven weeks for them and they have put a lot in physically and emotionally and the right thing is to get a rest right away. Neither will be in this week or be considered for Friday night against Bath. The rest of the England players will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
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“With Maro there are a few things to consider, and he wants to play and is keen to get back and I am sure he will be available to play in the game at the Tottenham Stadium against Northampton. But he definitely needed a week away from a rugby environment. I don’t know if I agree with everything that has been said around Maro (about needing a rest) and it’s not been a season where he has played a lot. It has probably been the season where he has played the least so far.
“His best performance by a long way was on Saturday night (against France), and Maro is keen for a rest, of course he is, but he wants to come back to the club. If you remember Steve Borthwick chose to put him on the bench for the first game and he lacked some game time on the field and the longer the competition went on the better he was.
“He has been short of game time over the last three months, maybe, and it been more of an emotional toll over the last six or seven weeks, and it’s right not to ask him to play in this game.”
McCall said that Ben Earl, who picked up a cut on his head in the France game, has been playing the “best rugby of his career,” and would be missing one of the next three games of Bath and Northampton in the Premiership or Bath in the last 16 of the Investec Champions Cup.
