Captain deserves enormous credit for leading his side back into the contest
Maro Itoje’s place in the pantheon of British & Irish Lions greats was not in doubt before Saturday’s remarkable series-clinching victory, but after it you sense we may come to wonder whether there has ever been better. He joins Sam Warburton and Martin Johnson having led the Lions to a series victory in the professional era. Do not bet against him sticking around to tour New Zealand in four years’ time.
Itoje’s performance was not flawless on a wild night at the Melbourne Cricket Ground when the Lions somehow came back from 18 points down. No one wearing red could lay claim to that. He made mistakes – plenty of them – in the first half.
But he deserves enormous credit for how he guided the Lions back into the contest towards the end of the first half and into the lead in the final minute. The Lions have not been tested like this since they arrived in Australia more than a month ago, but their response demonstrated their level of character.
“Cool, calm and collected. He was outstanding in his captaincy,” said the head coach, Andy Farrell. “As the game started to unfold in front of us he was calm and he understood what was needed. How he communicated with the referee and [dealt] with the flow of the game was absolutely spot on. If you listened back to it you’d recognise what a class act he was.”
