Well done Steve Borthwick. The England coach has come in for a lot of criticism and stripping the captaincy from a player is a tough thing to carry off, especially when they are still in the squad. But selecting Maro Itoje as captain over Jamie George is absolutely the right call.
I think I was the only person calling for this change, but I just think it is a really positive call and one that English rugby needed, especially with all the rubbish that has been going on of late.
I have nothing against Jamie. I want to make that very clear. He is a very good player and this decision is tough on him.
But England have got a track record of losing games in the last minutes and I think the biggest reason has been that we keep taking our captain off with 20 minutes to go. You need your captain on at the finish because that is when a match is won and lost.
When it comes to selecting a captain, the first point is that they need to start and finish a match. The second is they have got to be the first name on the teamsheet. Thirdly, they’ve got to captain their club because there is an art to the role and doing it week in, week out is absolutely critical .
If that is your criteria and then you look through the England squad, making Maro Itoje the new captain is a complete no-brainer and should have happened a long time ago. He ticks all the boxes straight away.
Maro Itoje has been named as England’s new captain ahead of this year’s Six Nations
Itoje is now a senior pro with the respect of his team-mates, and Steve Borthwick has made the right call by picking him as captain ahead of Jamie George
Itoje could be the next Martin Johnson (left) and Lawrence Dallaglio (right) who starred in England’s World Cup triumph in 2003
Much like Martin Johnson and Lawrence Dallaglio, I can’t ever recall Maro being subbed off. For me, he is the first name on the England teamsheet and, at his best, he is our one truly outstanding player. And he captains week in, week out at Saracens.
You also need to ask: is he a guy who is going to be on the front pages or back pages?
Well, Maro is going to be on the back pages because he’s absolutely dedicated to his sport. He has the full respect of his team-mates and fully deserves this, having won 88 caps. Congratulations to him.
Now, the most important thing Maro must do as captain is be the outstanding player on the pitch. He has got to be man of the match – not because of his captaincy, but the way he plays the game.
That is what I always loved about Johnson and Dallaglio. They never forgot that the best way to captain your team was to lead by example. You can make decisions, but you’ve got to be at your very, very best form.
I expect to see a really fired up Itoje against Ireland now he is the captain. He’s got a real chance of turning this England team around. Now we have picked the right captain, we have got a real chance of beating Ireland.
Overall, I think Steve has selected a really strong squad and I am pleased with some of the other changes he has made.
Dan Cole has been a fantastic player for England but he is 37 now and there comes a stage where you to have acknowledge someone’s time is up. I am not sure he is the best player in his position any longer, but he goes with a massive pat on the back from all who love the English team.
I am pleased with the other changes that Borthwick has made to his squad after a disappointing set of results in the Autumn Internationals
I now want to see Borthwick pick an exciting team that can play at a faster tempo than recent years
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I am also pleased to see Tom Willis selected, but the only disappointing thing for me is that Henry Pollock is not in the squad, which is a major surprise for me.
I put him in my starting XV in yesterday’s Mail Sport because I think having a young firebrand in there would add a real extra edge to the game. I’d have loved to have seen him go up against the Irish but that is Steve’s call and we are not going to fall out over that one. He only turned 20 on Tuesday so his time will come.
I just hope Steve now picks an exciting team because I want England to play a lot faster than they have been playing over the last couple of years.
I think the game in Ireland will go down to the wire. But the good news is that, with 60 seconds to go, the captain will be on the field of play. That alone is a massive step forward for this team.
