Maro Itoje

Maro Itoje

File:USO - Saracens - 20151213 - Maro Itoje.jpg
Personal information
Full name	Oghenemaro Miles Itoje
Date of birth	(1994-10-28) 28 October 1994
Place of birth	Camden, London
Height	1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)
Weight	116 kg (256 lb; 18 st 4 lb)
School	Salcombe Preparatory School St George's School, Harpenden Harrow School
Club information
Position	Lock, Flanker
Current club	Saracens
Youth clubs
Years Club 2005 - 11 Harpenden RFC; Saracens Academy Old Albanian RFC
Senior clubs*
Years Club Apps (points) 2013– Saracens 29 (20)
Representative teams**
2014 2015 2016 England U18s England U20s England Saxons England 10 (20) 4 (0)
* Professional club appearances and points counted for domestic first grade only and correct as of 15 February 2015. ** Representative team caps and points correct as of 19 March 2016.

Maro Itoje (born 28 October 1994) is an English rugby union player for Saracens in the Aviva Premiership and for England.

Background

Born in Camden, London on 28 October 1994, to Nigerian parents. He went to Salcombe Preparatory School and later St George's School, Harpenden and Harrow School. He is currently reading for a Politics degree at the School of Oriental and African Studies. As a schoolboy, Itoje played several sports including basketball, football, rugby and athletics, for which he represented England at U17 level in shot put.

Club career

His senior debut for Saracens came against Cardiff Blues in the 2013–14 season, aged 19, in the Anglo-Welsh Cup. He made his Aviva Premiership debut against Leicester Tigers later in the same season. Prior to this he played for Harpenden RFC at junior level (2005–11) then played in the first team at Old Albanian RFC, usually as a lock. In 2016 he led Saracens to the European Champions Cup final against Racing Metro 92 which they won 21-9 with Itoje picking up the man of the match award. He was also named the European Player of the Year.

International career

Having previously represented England at U18 and captained the England U20 team in the 2013-14 season, he scored a try in every 2014 Under-20 Six Nations game and was England’s Man of the Tournament.

Itoje was called up to the England Saxons squad on 21 January 2015 and made his debut in the game against Ireland Wolfhounds on 30 January 2015. Itoje was selected for the England 2015 Rugby World Cup training squad.

Itoje received his first call-up to the senior England squad by new coach Eddie Jones on 13 January 2016 for the 2016 Six Nations Championship. He later went on to make his first-team debut against Italy and was named man of the match for his performance in the win against Wales on 12 March 2016. He went on to win the Grand Slam with England.