Maro Itoje has been named captain of the British and Irish Lions for this summer's tour of Australia.
Itoje, 30, becomes the second Englishman to captain the Lions in the professional era, following Martin Johnson who led the tourists in both 1997 and 2001. Itoje was confirmed as Lions skipper at an event at London's O2 Arena on Thursday.
Itoje emerged as the frontrunner to lead Andy Farrell's side after Ireland's Caelan Doris picked up a shoulder injury in Leinster's Champions Cup defeat to Northampton Saints on Saturday. The injury saw Doris require surgery, with Leinster fearing it was a "serious" setback.
Itoje is a two-time Lion already, having played against the All Blacks in 2017 and South Africa in 2021. And now he'll captain the team as they look for their first series win against the Wallabies since 2013.
He has enjoyed a brilliant 2024-25 campaign and skippered both Saracens and England. The 2025 Six Nations was his first championship in charge of England and he impressed in the role, while also maintaining brilliant form.
For so long, this looked to be a two-horse race for the Lions captaincy. While the likes of Owen Farrell and Jamie George were mentioned, Doris and Itoje were widely seen to be the frontrunners.
Lions coach Farrell is on secondment from Ireland for this summer's series, and one of his last acts as Ireland coach before the sabbatical was to pick Doris to captain his team in the 2024 November Tests. Doris carried this role into the 2025 championship but Itoje's stock rose during the Six Nations after a series of eye-catching performances.
And it's Itoje who joins an elite group to captain the Lions. The professional era saw Johnson lead the Lions to South Africa in 1997 and then to Australia in 2001. Brian O'Driscoll captained the tourists against the All Blacks in 2005, Paul O'Connell took on the honour for the trip to South Africa in 2009 and Sam Warburton skippered them against Australia in 2013 and New Zealand in 2017. Last time around in South Africa, it was Wales great Alun Wyn Jones.
Analysis from ESPN's Tom Hamilton:
The minute Leinster and Ireland started fretting about Doris' injury, it meant only one thing: it was going to be Itoje's year.
You imagine Farrell will reveal on Thursday how close a call this was going to be and for so long, it looked like this was going to be nailed on for Doris.
Farrell giving him the Ireland captaincy in November looked to be an audition for this summer's honour, but Doris' form dipped in the Six Nations and he had trouble at times communicating with officials. That ability to get inside the referee's ear at the right time has shifted the balance of past series -- just look at how Sam Warburton managed to overturn Romain Poite's call in the final throes of the 2017 third Test in Auckland.
Steve Borthwick's decision to pick Itoje as England captain was a surprise. Jamie George had done an outstanding job, but Borthwick was looking to move his squad into the next era. Itoje had done well captaining Saracens and ever since his breakthrough in 2014, it always seemed to be a question of "when" rather than "if" he'd ever skipper England.
Itoje received some criticism from former England coach Eddie Jones over his leadership credentials, but he was exceptional in the role. And marrying that, he managed to push his own personal form to even higher levels.
Doris' injury was incredibly unfortunate and you feel for him. He missed the 2021 tour with concussion, and this shoulder injury could not have come at a worse time. It's now Itoje's moment and he'll do an outstanding job.
There's an awful lot of hullabaloo that comes with the Lions captaincy, and he'll shake approximately 1.2 million hands over the next three months, but when it comes down to leading his side against the Wallabies, he'll do it through example and well-judged moments of encouragement.
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