Maro Itoje

Maro Itoje is England’s captain and, by most measures, the most influential English forward of his generation. A lock who has spent his entire career at Saracens, he was the youngest of the 2017 Lions Test starters, toured again in 2021, and in 2025 captained the British & Irish Lions in Australia — the natural end point of a decade in which he has barely missed a big occasion.

His game is built on lawful nuisance. Itoje competes at the lineout on the edge of the referee’s patience, slows opposition ball with a jackal that rarely concedes the penalty, and produces the maul turnovers and charge-downs that flip momentum in tight Test matches. He is not the biggest carrier in world rugby and has never pretended to be; his value shows up in the possessions the opposition loses rather than the metres he makes.

The captaincy, handed to him in 2025, changed the conversation around him. England’s fifth-place finish in the 2026 Six Nations — four defeats in five — put the leadership group under real scrutiny, and the RFU’s decision to back Steve Borthwick through to the 2027 Rugby World Cup means Itoje’s job now is to drag a talented, underperforming squad back up the table. History suggests betting against him is unwise: he has played in finals or deciders in almost every season of his professional life.

Away from the field he is a published podcast host, art collector and one of rugby’s most articulate voices on African heritage.