Mark McCall backs Maro Itoje to succeed at openside
Maro Itoje is being considered at openside by England
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Saracens boss Mark McCall believes Maro Itoje can end England's woes at openside in the upcoming autumn internationals.
England have been plagued with injuries with James Haskell, Jack Clifford, Mike Williams and Sam Jones are all ruled out of the November Tests with their respective injuries creating a headache for head coach Eddie Jones.
Jones has already stated that former England captain Chris Robshaw will not start at seven which leaves Itoje as the likely contender, even though it is not his familiar position.
However, Sarries head coach McCall expressed confidence that Itoje can be a formidable number seven for England.
"Maro is a very destructive player and I think he would do a great job," McCall said.
"For someone who is as tall as he is, Maro's outstanding over the ball. He gets as many turn-overs as anybody in the Premiership.
"When it's not there to get over the ball, Maro is very good at making a mess of opposition attacking breakdowns.
"He carries the ball well, he reads the game well and he's another line-out option in the back-row. It would make England's line-out pretty formidable to have a seven like that."
Itoje, who was part of England's 3-0 series whitewash against the Wallabies in Australia is confident he can play in any position the team demands.
"I've been switching positions for a while now. It's not like asking a winger to play prop. I've played back-row, I've played second-row. It's something I'm fairly used to," Itoje said.
However, England have a lot of choices at lock with Itoje and George Kruis being the front runners and have Joe Launchbury and Courtney Lawes backing them up. In the probability of Itoje moving to openside, either Launchbury or Lawes will pair up with Kruis.
I think what Eddie is going to look at is who are the best five back-five players he can pick for England because you've got people like Launchbury and Lawes who are playing well," McCall said.
"Maybe he has less back rows at that level and just getting his five best players on the pitch is what he's thinking.
"Time will tell with Maro because we haven't really seen him yet at openside. It's a good point that he has played so well in the second row there must be a temptation to leave him where he is."
