{"id":293611,"date":"2025-07-26T15:32:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T15:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/293611\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T15:32:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T15:32:11","slug":"cool-calm-and-collected-maro-itoje-earns-place-in-pantheon-of-lions-greats-lions-tour-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/293611\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Cool, calm and collected\u2019: Maro Itoje earns place in pantheon of Lions greats | Lions tour 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maro Itoje\u2019s place in the pantheon of British & Irish Lions greats was not in doubt before Saturday\u2019s remarkable series-clinching victory<\/a>, 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\u2019 time.<\/p>\n

Itoje\u2019s 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 \u2013 plenty of them \u2013 in the first half.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cCool, calm and collected. He was outstanding in his captaincy,\u201d said the head coach, Andy Farrell. \u201cAs 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\u2019d recognise what a class act he was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two second-half interventions stood out. Winning a penalty at the breakdown in the 63rd minute and sacking an Australian maul with eight minutes remaining. Both were key moments in swinging the game back in favour of his side. The latter was greeted by a roar of delight from Farrell in the coaches\u2019 box, so aware was he of the importance.<\/p>\n

A crunching Maro Itoje tackle stops Tom Lynagh in his tracks. Photograph: David Davies\/PA<\/p>\n

This was Itoje\u2019s 33rd match of the season and he has started all of them. By any measure \u2013 including those dictated by the Rugby Football Union \u2013 that is too many and there have been times along the way he has looked exhausted. His ability to raise his level of performance when the pressure is at its greatest is a remarkable talent to possess, however.<\/p>\n

Having been the Lions player of the tour in 2021 he was named man of the match in this victory that clinched a first series win in 12 years and he found himself in front of the cameras. It was a rare occasion when you had to disagree with him. \u201cWe got the win and that\u2019s all that matters,\u201d he said, but how this stunning contest played out matters a whole lot more.<\/p>\n

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The Lions were 1-4 favourites to wrap up the series. They have been talking loudly and proudly about targeting a 3-0 whitewash. Another dominant, one-sided affair would have sucked the life out of the series, but it is not an exaggeration to say that a contest as dramatic as this breathes some much-needed life into the concept of the Lions.<\/p>\n

That winning is all that matters has come to be a stick with which to beat the Lions. They have not won hearts and minds here and their laser focus on winning above all else has jarred with the anachronisms of the institution. Another cakewalk and we might have been wondering whether the Lions needed to take themselves quite so seriously.<\/p>\n

Indeed, not long before kick-off the stadium announcer, who may one day come to learn that less is more, asked the 90,307 inside the MCG \u201cwho wants some Test match rugby?\u201d The inference was that we did not really get any last week.<\/p>\n

Maro Itoje (left) runs to celebrate with his victorious British & Irish Lions teammates. Photograph: David Davies\/PA<\/p>\n

Instead, we were given a thrilling reminder of how captivating Test rugby can be. It was not necessarily the quality of it that stood out \u2013 both sides will reflect on a considerable number of mistakes \u2013 but it was thrill-a-minute with last-gasp controversy for good measure.<\/p>\n

Unlike last Saturday<\/a>, when the overriding emotion among the Lions at the final whistle was relief, there was genuine jubilation this time round. Itoje led his players around the bowl of this cavernous area and drank it all in, allowing himself a moment before resetting his sights on the whitewash.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are one of those moments in your life that you\u2019ll cherish,\u201d he said. \u201cIt will live long in the memory. This has always been the goal. I\u2019m just delighted, this is what dreams are made of.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Maro Itoje\u2019s place in the pantheon of British & Irish Lions greats was not in doubt before Saturday\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-293611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114920262489035218","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}