21-year-old England and Saracens lock Maro Itoje is the World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year 2016. Remarkably the rising star was also a World Rugby Men’s Player of the Year nominee in 2016, a year in which his country of birth* and his club have performed extremely well on the rugby field.
In a modern rugby age where 2m in height has often been set as the benchmark for a top level lock, Itoje stands just 1.95m.
With that stat of 1.95m, there are numerous circles of influence and traditional thinking that would have considered him too short for the second-row position at the top tier level.
It wasn’t too long ago that New Zealand Rugby World Cup winner Brad Thorn made a positive impression using his 1.95m frame. As good as he was though, Thorn was best known as an uncompromising physical “hardman” rather than a lineout specialist, where one might argue that he struggled a bit.
Itoje is however no ordinary player in the setpiece. In spite of the height disadvantage he has in relation to just about every top level lock opponent he comes up against, his lineout work is exemplary. Adding to his value is the phenomenal work he does to read and then disrupt opposition lineout ball, a skill that has the ability to make the difference between being regarded as a good player and being regarded a great one.
Itoje’s contribution to play isn’t just defined by his lineout role either. His all-round technique is exceptional particularly his timing. At the tackle breakdown, he has this body shape defying ability to turnover ball. His tackling gains attention because his method seems to result in a number of ball dislodging successes.
Two other outstanding attributes are his speed around the park and his highly spoken of leadership qualities, which have seen him captain England at age-group level in the past and made him a firm favourite to one day become the senior team skipper.
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