Maro Itoje

Maro Itoje

Personal information
Full name	Oghenemaro Miles Itoje
Date of birth	(1994-10-28) 28 October 1994
Place of birth	Camden, London
Height	1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)
Weight	116 kg (256 lb; 18 st 4 lb)[1]
School	Salcombe Preparatory School St George's School, Harpenden Harrow School
Club information
Position	Lock, Flanker
Current club	Saracens
Youth clubs
Years Club 2005 - 11 Harpenden RFC; Saracens Academy Old Albanian RFC
Senior clubs*
Years Club Apps (points) 2013– Saracens 29 (20)
Representative teams**
2014 2015 2016- England U18s England U20s England Saxons England 10 (20) 7(0)
* Professional club appearances and points counted for domestic first grade only and correct as of 15 February 2015. ** Representative team caps and points correct as of 25 June 2016.

Maro Itoje (born 28 October 1994) is an English rugby union player who currently represents Saracens in the Aviva Premiership and the England national rugby union team. He has been nicknamed "Super Maro".

Background

Maro Itoje was born in Camden, London on 28 October 1994 to Nigerian parents. ^[2] In terms of education, Itoje attended Salcombe Preparatory School in Southgate, North London at a primary level, before moving to St George's School, Harpenden, an independent boarding school in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, and later Harrow School in the outer reaches of Greater London. He is currently reading for a Politics degree at the School of Oriental and African Studies in Bloomsbury, London. As a schoolboy, Itoje played several sports including basketball, football, rugby and athletics, for which he represented England at U17 level in shot put.^[3]

Club career

His senior debut for Saracens came against Cardiff Blues in the 2013–14 season, aged 19, in the Anglo-Welsh Cup. He made his Aviva Premiership debut against Leicester Tigers later in the same season. Prior to this he played for Harpenden RFC at junior level (2005–11) then played in the first team at Old Albanian RFC, usually as a lock (second row). In 2016 he led Saracens to the European Champions Cup final against Racing Metro 92 which they won 21-9 with Itoje picking up the man of the match award.

International career

Having previously represented England at U18 and captained the England U20 team in the 2013-14 season, he scored a try in every 2014 Under-20 Six Nations game and was England’s Man of the Tournament.

Itoje was called up to the England Saxons squad on 21 January 2015 ^[4][4] and made his debut in the game against Ireland Wolfhounds on 30 January 2015. Itoje was selected for the England 2015 Rugby World Cup training squad.^[5]

Itoje received his first call-up to the senior England squad by new coach Eddie Jones on 13 January 2016 for the 2016 Six Nations Championship.^[6] He later went on to make his first-team debut against Italy and was named man of the match for his performance in the win against Wales on 12 March 2016.^[7]

Itoje quickly became a first-choice player for England, winning the award for Breakout Player of the Year in 2016, and was also nominated for World Mens' Player of the Year alongside team mates Billy Vunipola and Owen Farrell, losing the award to New Zealand's Beauden Barrett. Itoje was unable to retain his place in the England squad for the end of year internationals due to injury however, but is expected to be fit by 2017. Eddie Jones is looking forward to his return .

References