LONG READ Mick Cleary: 'England are in a good place. And Itoje on the bench proves that.'

By his absence, shall this England team be defined. Maro Itoje’s presence on the bench for the opening Six Nation skirmish (and Wales fans will be crossing digits that it is at least that) says more about this England team than if he had been in his usual starting slot in the second row, as much a fixture there as the Tower of London. The circumstances are understandable and a person’s grief following the loss of a parent can be a hugely destabilising event.

Itoje has borne the entire drawn-out experience in the same steadfast manner that he has taken to captaining his country as well as the British and Irish Lions – without fuss or favour. If he had been asked to lead the side out at Twickenham on Saturday he would have done so. And even though you might imagine that if the fixture list had been reversed and it were England headed to Paris for the opening game then Itoje might well have been in the front line of action, it is entirely right that he is easing himself back into the fray from the bench after such a disturbed build-up for him.

It’s also easy to speculate that Steve Borthwick might not have taken such a decision a year ago as England opened the 2025 Championship (with a 27-22 defeat in Dublin). That happened to be England’s last loss as they went on their run of 11 consecutive wins. That England, though, were a fledging side, unproven and scratching around for  identity. They no longer are. This is no ordinary shuffling of the deck. Itoje is Mr Consistency, a species so rare that David Attenborough could find enough material to dedicate a programme to him – a towering figure on the rugby landscape, resolute and enduring, fighting off prey and without physical defect.

Hence his incredible record of playing each and every minute of the Six Nations over the last half-dozen years, last being used as a replacement on his debut back in 2016. You don’t dispense with that sort of experience without good cause.

Players have been empowered. And properly so. The more you see of Itoje as a captain the more you realise just what a bone-headed assessment was made of him by Eddie Jones.

And Borthwick has that cause. The fact that Itoje might be under-clubbed (he has also had a niggling knee problem to contend with), enabling Borthwick to make the call that he did, is not the real issue. It is the fact that the England head coach felt entirely comfortable in doing so, probably not giving it a second thought once he had made his initial evaluation of Itoje’s emotional and physical state. Borthwick now has complete and utter trust in those around Itoje to get the job done without him. It’s a measure of Borthwick’s management, and of Itoje’s lack of ego, that this group’s leadership skills do not come down to a skipper’s rallying dressing-room roars or have to be carved in stone by the coach’s instructions pre-match.

Players have been empowered. And properly so. The more you see of Itoje as a captain the more you realise just what a bone-headed assessment was made of him by Eddie Jones. The former England head coach wrote him off as too inward-looking to make a decent captain. Jones had many fine qualities as a coach. He also had many flaws as a people person, unable or unwilling to move from his own half-arsed views if it made for a good soundbite.

Leadership is often spoken about but rarely defined. That’s because it can’t be. It’s about setting standards, it’s about presence, it’s about sincerity, it’s about giving, not taking, it’s about fiery words for some, wise, understated words for others. It’s many things. Martin Johnson has often shrugged off the acclaim he got – and still gets – for England’s World Cup triumph in 2003, saying that he was only the bloke who happened to be first down the tunnel. The 2003 leaders were everywhere – Dallaglio, Dawson, Leonard, Back, Greenwood, all different, all with input.

The same is becoming true of this England squad. Jamie George steps back into the breach as captain, Ellis Genge and George Ford ride shotgun, Fraser Dingwall fights off fierce competition to help mould the midfield. They are not yet at 2003 levels, far from it, all the more so given that they have no silverware to their name, but the Itoje bench selection shows that they are getting there.

The fact that Ford is in the No 10 shirt is not only the right call but also illustrates that England now have a level of connection in their ranks that is club-like in its togetherness.

The fact that Ford is in the No 10 shirt is not only the right call but also illustrates that England now have a level of connection in their ranks that is club-like in its togetherness. It would not have raised too many eyebrow if Fin Smith had been chosen to start, his calf injury notwithstanding, so as to make best use of the Northampton Saints link in the backs. That would have made some sense. But it would have been utterly wrong. Even though the modern way of extolling the virtue of it being a 23-man game, of Pom Bomb squads (and Itoje’s role will be significant in that regard, too), there still has to be a proper sense of fairness in selection, of earning the right to start. It may be less straightforward these days but players still believe in a sense of fair play. Ford is the man in possession.

Underlying all these considerations, of course, is the uncomfortable fact that it is Wales in opposition on Saturday. Let’s bin any accusations of being patronising by stating that it is the long-lasting internecine bickering over the Bridge that has culminated in a truly dismal state of affairs that shows no sign of abating. We all hope for an outlandish Buster Douglas-style knockout off overwhelming favourite, Mike Tyson, for that would really set the rugby world alight, but we all know how forlorn a cause that is.

England have selected properly, anticipating a fight. Henry Arundell has a fabulous chance to show that he can be England’s X-factor talent leading towards the 2027 World Cup while the Tommy Freeman audition as an outside centre can produce a leading role for him too in the No 13 shirt, from understudy option to main man, if it all clicks at Twickenham.

England are in a good place. And Itoje on the bench proves that.