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'Alun Wyn Jones captain for the Lions. End of' - Itoje penalty count blows captaincy debate wide open

(Photo By Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Warren Gatland was one of the few spectators at the Principality Stadium on Saturday for Wales’ Guinness Six Nations win over England, but even he may not have expected to learn so much from the contest.

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The match not only had a sweep of potential starters for the British and Irish Lions on display, but was effectively an audition for Gatland’s leading captaincy candidates too.

One of those was Maro Itoje, who exhibited the full spectrum of what he brings to any match. The Saracens lock showed his best; inexorable in putting scrum-half Kieran Hardy under immense pressure and contributing with dominant hits.

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Eddie Jones faces the press after defeat to Wales:

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Eddie Jones faces the press after defeat to Wales:

But a penalty count of five, and a tournament total of ten, is less flattering.

Heading into this year’s Championship, the question may have been who was going to partner the Saracen in the engine room against South Africa. But a combination of his own form and the form of his competitors has now thrown the debate wide open.

Eddie Jones has been swift to defend his star man, saying referees tend to “over-referee” him. When looking back, three of his penalties could well have been overlooked on another day.

The deliberate knock-on, playing the ball on the floor and an offside call were all as marginal as decisions go, but Itoje has a reputation of playing the game on the edge and that may be at the back of referees’ minds. Jones knows that, and so will Gatland.

The worst thing for the 26-year-old is that this is not an ideal time to encounter these problems, particularly in his position. While it is almost a certainty that he will make the Lions squad, there is so much depth in the second-row department that players can ill-afford to underperform.

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Of the five locks that were originally selected in 2017, only George Kruis is no longer in contention to travel this year. With James Ryan all but guaranteed to be selected, or even start against the Springboks, and Tadhg Beirne and Jonny Gray making a great account of themselves this year, the second-row contest is reaching fever pitch.

With Saracens playing a season in the IPA Greene King Championship, Itoje does not even have domestic and European competitions after the Six Nations to show he has ironed out his problems. If his current ill-discipline is a product of a lack of playing time so far in 2021, that issue will not be alleviated after the Six Nations and ahead of the summer.

Saturday may have been conclusive for some in determining the Lions captain, with Alun Wyn Jones getting the better of Itoje and Farrell. That seems to be the case for former Wales No8 Andy Powell. By virtue of that, there is only one other second-row vacancy to fill for the first Test against the Springboks, although Itoje remains an option at No6 as well.

The Wales captain has by no means been squeaky clean this Championship and has a penalty count of six, with four of those coming against Scotland. But the timing of penalties is sometimes more significant than the quantity, and Itoje’s four in the opening half-hour may have been excused had he not jumped across the lineout in the final quarter to gift Wales the lead again when the scores were 24-24. What’s more, as the most experienced player in Test history and having worked with Gatland for over a decade, the Welshman has less to prove.

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Itoje still remains one of the best and most influential players on the planet though, but his oppressive style comes at a price at the moment. Penalties may always be an inevitability due to the way he plays, but he has two more matches this Six Nations to convince Gatland that it is a price worth paying.

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J
JW 2 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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