Last summer’s Lions tour to New Zealand is history but the unlikely friendships it forged endure. The partnership of Alun Wyn Jones and Maro Itoje in the second row for the final two Tests, neither of which the All Blacks managed to win, was a conspicuous success and the Wales captain was even memorably caught on video chanting “Oh Maro Itoje!” with the fans after the second Test win in Wellington.
While the pair’s paths have subsequently crossed in Europe after Ospreys and Saracens were drawn in the same pool, the Anglo‑Welsh Six Nations match on Saturday is the first international reunion since Auckland last July. The irresistible force from north London against Swansea’s immovable object? Rugby remains the ultimate team game but the set-piece duel between the twin Lions totems will undoubtedly influence the outcome.
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Warren Gatland needs no telling how influential Itoje can be but Jones was an equally prominent figure in Wales’s convincing win against Scotland. England also have Gatland’s tour assistant Steve Borthwick busily plotting Wales’s downfall; if there was not already sufficient intrigue attached to the game, the lineouts and scrums alone should contain enough of an edge to satisfy any connoisseur.
In New Zealand, for example, Itoje called the lineouts in the Tests; Jones now knows exactly how his younger colleague thinks in certain situations. England, though, have beaten Wales in both the Six Nations games Itoje has started and there is another area in which he openly claims to have an advantage. “I’m fortunate enough to have quite long, free-flowing hair; he’s severely balding but I think he’s come to terms with that now.”
I’m fortunate enough to have quite long, free-flowing hair; he’s severely balding but he’s come to terms with that now
This is almost certainly payback for Jones’s public complaint about Itoje not sharing his cocoa butter when the pair shared a room together in New Zealand – “First of all he didn’t ask, second he doesn’t use it,” retorted Itoje – but otherwise the junior partner is entirely respectful.
“We were room‑mates for a couple of weeks. We got on very well. He’s very professional, trains hard and he is diligent with his preparation. He has a good work rate and he’s a nice guy as well. His musical tastes are different to mine but I got on well with him on tour.”
In terms of lessons absorbed in a Lions context, the 23-year-old Saracen reckons he learned plenty from any number of sources. That will not stop him from piling into Jones and Cory Hill, one of the so-called Geography Six called up as mid-tour cover, as if the Lions tour had never happened.
Itoje’s friendships with Justin Tipuric, the injured Taulupe Faletau – “I know him quite well, because he is family with the Vunipolas, so I see him every now and then” – and his club team-mate Liam Williams will also be temporarily set aside. “That isn’t even in the slightest difficult for me. It’s a completely different setting, different team, different environment. It’s not going to be an issue at all. We’re more concerned with implementing our gameplan than worrying about them.”
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Even so, as a keen student of politics he fully appreciates the cross‑border passions set to be stirred this weekend. Two years ago he made his first Twickenham start for England in this fixture and has not forgotten how it made him feel.
“The whole magnitude of that occasion was massive. It will be physical and intense … it is a great game to be part of and I’m sure Twickenham will be rocking. Hopefully we can put in a decent performance for the fans but you can get too drawn into sociopolitical analysis. I don’t think we need to feed off that. I know I don’t. At the end of the day it is 23 versus 23. All our motivations are internal: trying to improve and getting to where we want to get to.”
Itoje was not a participant when Wales and England shared a live scrummaging session in Bristol this season but he was involved last week when the former France hooker Marc Dal Maso – “I’ve not seen many people get that excited over scrums” – put the England forwards through their paces.
He suspects this weekend will demand similar levels of intensity – “Warren’s very experienced, he’s a good coach and he gives his teams confidence” – if Gatland’s side are to be outwitted. As for Jones, the prospects of him chanting his opponent’s name again on Saturday feel somewhat remote.