Steve Borthwick’s instinct to protect Maro Itoje still makes sense. The problem is that England’s summer has already started to make the obvious welfare call feel like a sharper selection gamble.
According to The Guardian’s latest England update, Borthwick has been keen to stand Itoje down for the July Tests against South Africa, Fiji and Argentina after an intense year in which the England captain led the British & Irish Lions, carried a huge Test workload and dealt with a personal bereavement. That is a human decision before it is a rugby one, but Friday’s 35-19 defeat by a France XV in Vannes has made the lock-depth question harder to tidy away.
Why Resting Itoje Still Looks The Right Call
Itoje is not just another senior forward. He is England’s captain, lineout presence, defensive organiser and emotional reference point in tight Test weeks. That is exactly why the temptation is always to keep picking him.
But the best international sides do not only manage players when they are injured. They manage them before the damage shows. Borthwick’s reported view that a summer off would be the right outcome for Itoje is, in principle, the kind of decision England have often been too slow to make with their biggest names.
The case is even stronger because this is a three-match Nations Championship window that begins in Johannesburg on 4 July. South Africa away is not a soft re-entry point, but it is also not the whole cycle. England need Itoje fresh enough to lead the autumn, the next Six Nations and the longer road towards the 2027 World Cup.
France Defeat Changed The Optics
The France XV loss did not directly involve Itoje, but it did expose the awkward middle ground in England’s squad planning. Sky Sports reported that England were beaten 35-19 in the uncapped Vannes fixture, with costly errors allowing France to pull away after the interval in a match designed to test the next layer of Borthwick’s player pool.
That matters because depth only becomes credible when it survives pressure. England’s younger and fringe forwards now sit in a tougher conversation, especially with George Martin and Alex Coles central to the equation that could determine whether Itoje is truly released from summer duty.
ReadRugbyUnion has already looked at how Henry Pollock’s Premiership final performance sharpened Borthwick’s back-row call, and the same principle applies at lock. Domestic evidence is useful, but Test selectors still need to know who can absorb a messy international week when the set-piece creaks and the scoreboard turns.
Read the full match report from England XV’s loss to France XV.
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) June 19, 2026
The Decision Borthwick Cannot Dodge
The clean answer is to rest Itoje and trust the system. The more complicated answer is to name him only if England’s second-row cover has genuinely thinned, rather than because the France result has created nervousness.
There is a difference between reacting to one warm-up defeat and recognising a real structural shortage. Borthwick’s job is to separate the two. He has already had to weigh Northampton’s title run into selection debates, with Alex Mitchell’s return changing the scrum-half picture, while the pathway argument continues below senior level through the England-Ireland U20 Championship opener.
Itoje’s case is bigger because it touches leadership as much as selection. If England cannot give their captain a carefully planned break after the year he has had, then the wider workload strategy is just theory. If they can rest him and still compete properly in July, it becomes a statement about squad maturity.
That is why Monday’s squad announcement now carries more than a name-check. It will show whether England are brave enough to protect Itoje for the season ahead, or whether the first sign of summer turbulence is enough to pull their most important forward straight back into the fire.
