One eye on summer as Doris and Itoje showcase leadership skills

With the British and Irish Lions Tour around the corner Caelan Doris and Maro Itoje will be hoping to showcase their captaincy skills for Head Coach Andy Farrell.

Sat, 01 Feb, 2025 - 06:59

Brendan O'Brien

Old rivals, new leaders, one intriguing subplot. The pre-match coin toss isn’t usually a source of anticipation but the sight of Caelan Doris and Maro Itoje shaking hands and swapping stares will be catnip for anyone with one eye on a certain trip to Australia this year.

Both men have been promoted to the role of on-field general in recent times. Doris was handed the reins permanently last November. Itoje will wear the England armband for from the off for the first time when he turns up at the Aviva Stadium.

These are the two leading candidates for the same role when Andy Farrell names his British and Irish Lions squad later in the year and, if one swallow won’t make a summer, then performances and perceptions formed today will stretch a long way.

“In how he plays he’s probably quite a natural leader, really,” said Doris of Itoje. “He’s very abrasive, very confrontational and strong around setpiece. Very physical and a nuisance at the breakdown. You can kind of see the energy that a strong performance from him, the impact that has on the team.

“That’s been evident for a number of years and it’s no surprise really that he’s in the captaincy role. In terms of the Lions stuff, it’s not at the forefront of my mind at all. I’m very aware that in order to be selected first of all you need a strong Six Nations and that’s definitely my focus at the moment.”

Itoje will be of peripheral interest to the Ireland captain here. The back row battle will be of more immediate concern to Doris who will be up against an England unit dominated by groundhogs with the selections of Ben and Tom Curry and Ben Earls.

The Leinster number eight spoke of the “collision dominance” that England enjoyed when surprising Ireland in Twickenham eleven months ago and there is more recent evidence again of the damage that can be done to Ireland’s ambitions from November.

Fraser McReight’s performance for Australia that day was nothing short of monumental. He finished with five breakdown turnovers, no less than 21 tackles and with a body of work with ball in hand that included four broken tackles.

Borthwick clearly took note, hence his three-pronged approach.

“It’s more just around breakdown habits,” said Doris who is one-third of Ireland’s own impressive, and in-form, back row unit alongside Josh van der Flier and Ryan Baird. “We’ve built them well over the last ten days.

“You’ve got to have a heightened sense of awareness around those three in particular but every breakdown, winning the battles, winning the races, eliminating the separation between the ball carrier and just having a heightened sense of awareness around it.”

The breakdown was the last of four areas Doris listed when asked for areas where the team can improve from November with discipline, lineout and attack all preceding it. Whatever the end result here, England’s intent is obvious.