The rise and rise of Maro Itoje

The last time the British and Irish Lions headed into a third Test decider, Maro Itoje was just 18-years-old and yet to make his senior club rugby debut.

On Saturday, four years on in the lashing rain of Wellington, the 22-year-old Saracen was calling the lineouts as the Lions secured only their third victory on New Zealand soil. His status elevated to such an extent that his name was chanted around the Westpac Stadium.
Rarely has a player with so few international caps (12) been such a certainty to make a Lions tour. And now, having been left out of the starting XV for the first Test defeat, he will go into Saturday’s series decider with the world’s number one team as one, if not the key man for Warren Gatland.

From early on Itoje seemed destined for a career in professional sport, though it was not until he turned 16 that his focus turned to rugby.

The son of two Nigerian immigrants, Efe and Florence, Itoje was born in Camden, north London, the middle child of three between older brother Jeremy and younger sister Isabel.

When your pops is 100% more happy than you!! Thank you for the all the support. Onto next week!!! ?? pic.twitter.com/96agskaeEl

— Maro Itoje (@maroitoje) July 1, 2017

At school, he played several sports including basketball, football and athletics, representing England at U17 level in shot put.
As he admitted last week, Nigeria is anything but a rugby stronghold and one suspects at that point his dream may well have been the Olympic Games.

His power and physicality was duly noticed and recognised as near perfect for the oval ball though, and a £36,000-a-year bursary to attend Harrow was extended his way. It was here that his raw rugby talent was nurtured.

Itoje is somewhat different from the average rugby player, however. While forging a career at the highest level, he has studied a Politics degree at the School of Oriental and African Studies in Bloomsbury, London, admitting he missed his final exam to travel to New Zealand.

At Harrow, Itoje was a member of the choir with a fondness for classical singing and the opera. And in more recent times he has developed a fondness for writing poetry. Not something the vast majority of those he packs down with or against could claim to dabble in.
The 6’5″, 18st 5lb specimen we watch in front of us today also left school with a full house of A grades in A-level economics, statistics and politics.

Rugby wise, his emergence onto the scene has been less an explosion, and more a sporting cataclysm.

In less than eight months he went from missing out on Stuart Lancaster’s 2015 World Cup squad, to winning almost everything in the game: European Cup, Aviva Premiership, Six Nations, Triple Crown, Grand Slam. All by the age of 21.

And he didn’t just win them, he was one of the main contributors behind each triumph. An almost perfect cacophony of brute strength, pace and rugby intellect.

Like Gatland, England coach Eddie Jones was initially wary of throwing him straight into the mix, and it’s easy to forget that for the opening round of the 2016 Six Nations, Itoje was absent from England’s matchday 23.

Jones fielded George Kruis alongside Joe Launchbury for the trip to Murrayfield that day, with Courtney Lawes named among the replacements, as the quick-witted Australian memorably noted Itoje was “a Vauxhall Viva”, who had potential but “a lot of work to do”.
Three weeks later, Itoje started against Ireland at Twickenham and put in a composed display which belied his tender years and lack of Test match experience in a 21-10 victory.

A fortnight after that, he truly announced his name onto the highest stage with a monumental display against Wales at Twickenham.
Itoje did everything that day: lineout steals, viscous clean-outs, immense carries, gainline success, breakdown turnovers. He was the dominant force and made himself undroppable.

His transformation from “Vauxhall Viva to BMW” had happened far quicker than even Jones had envisioned.

A Grand Slam was achieved in Paris the week after, before he went on to secure the first of two European Cups with Saracens that May, as well as the English league title in the same month.

?"It was a nice moment to enjoy with the fans…."@alunwynjones reveals he wasn't the only one singing "Ohhh Maro Itoje" #AllForOne pic.twitter.com/QHlCrQ1xeR

— British & Irish Lions (@lionsofficial) July 6, 2017

His performances, in what was his breakout season, were such that by December 2016 former England international Austin Healy called for him to be named England captain.

On Sunday, former Lions and England coach Clive Woodward called him “invincible”, stating: “No wonder the Lions fans were chanting his name football-style afterwards. There were shades of Ronaldo and Messi in their worship of the man.”
While such utterances are, of course, way over the top and almost certainly said in the midst of hype-overload, the point remains that this is a special talent.

A propensity to give away cheap penalties and slip up to high tackles must be quelled, but Itoje looks set for a career at the very top for years to come.

The victory in Wellington on Saturday meant he has started seven games on New Zealand soil at Test, representative and age-grade level and picked up seven victories. Which is just extraordinary.

The only things missing from his rugby CV, at the age of 22, are a World Cup and Lions series. He’s got an 80 minute chance to achieve the latter this weekend, as the Lions face the pressure cooker of Eden Park.

Unbeaten there since 1994, the All Blacks are on a run of 37 straight wins in Auckland. It will be his biggest challenge to date, but Itoje hasn’t failed much in his whirlwind career so far.