Eddie Jones has taken uncapped pair Maro Itoje and Elliot Daly to Scotland with the rest of the England squad in the event that his original team suffers any injuries.
ESPN reports that the new England manager is monitoring the fitness situation of Northampton’s Courtney Lawes and suggests that in the event that he is declared unfit to play for England, Itoje will be promoted to Jones’ 23-man squad.
At the weekend, Itoje was named as man of the match against Aviva Premiership strugglers Bath and England forward’s coach Steve Borthwick believes that the 21-year-old has a very bright future.
“Hopefully he has a huge future in front of him. He has shown the potential he has and our job now is to help him develop and learn so that he can be an international for England for a long time.”
However, Borthwick also acknowledged that England must not rush Itoje into the national side and so should be more focused on making sure that he can build a strong foundation for himself within the England side with his current chances to build upon for the future.
“He’s a young guy and now that he’s spending time around the squad, hopefully it will lay the foundation for an England career that will last a lot of years. We don’t need to be rushing him, we just need to make sure that he’s absolutely ready to go. “Being able to play six and second row is helpful in many ways and it will be interesting to see how he develops. He certainly has the athleticism to operate at six and that’s a huge asset for him.”
Itoje is undoubtedly a talented youngster with a bright future ahead of him and so this call-up from Jones will only boost his confidence leading into the Six Nations.
