England captain Maro Itoje wanted Saracens teammate Fergus Burke to chose England over Scotland

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There was plenty of speculation around Fergus Burke in recent weeks, regarding whether the Saracens fly half will pursue an international career with England or Scotland ahead of the 2025 Men’s Guinness Six Nations. The former Crusaders halfback arrived at the StoneX Stadium ahead of the 2024/25 Premiership season, and immediately garnered attention given his eligibility to represent both Steve Borthwick and Gregor Townsend’s sides.

The native New Zealander was promptly called up into the Scotland camp, with Townsend naming Burke alongside Glasgow Warriors back row Jack Mann as the two uncapped players in his group. Whilst the Scotland squad are delighted to add Burke to their ranks in line for an incoming Test debut, Burke’s own Saracens captain Maro Itoje was hopeful that the fly half would chose England as his international path. The newly appointed England skipper addressed Burke’s tartan-coloured pastures, at the recent 2025 Men’s Six Nations launch event in Rome.

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“Obviously I would have preferred him to stick it out a little bit longer, but you know, he’s in charge of his own destiny.” Itoje said. “He chose Scotland. And I don’t wish him all the best, but I wish him well. I wish him to at least to play well. I don’t want them to win, but I hope he goes well.”

“Fergus is a is a great player. He’s a great person. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know him and working with him since the summer or so. I’m sure he will add a lot of quality to Scotland, he is a quality player.”

Itoje and Burke are set for their own personal reunion, when England host Scotland in the third round of the 2025 Six Nations. The stage is set at the Allianz Stadium for an immense Calcutta Cup clash, with the Scots enjoying a four-match winning streak against their old Anglo enemies. Scotland impressed throughout the latest Autumn Nations Series, with hard fought wins over Fiji, Portugal and Australia, yet succumbed to the mighty Springboks for a 3-1 Autumn record.

Contrastingly, England had an underwhelming run this past November, with last ditch defeats to the All Blacks and Wallabies sending gut-punches to the Twickenham faithful. The third round match against South Africa was another convincing win for the back-to-back World Champions, before England ended their arduous wait for a win against Eddie Jones’ Japan. Itoje addressed the frustrating run of results which England experienced, and hammered home the need for his side to up the intensity if they want to achieve their mission objectives in the 2025 Six Nations.

“It’s been where we’ve fallen short over the last year, the final stages of games. Whilst I think we’re on a positive trajectory, it requires more to get to get the outcomes. If you want to get the results you want, it’s going to require more. I don’t think it’s good enough to say, ‘Oh, just do what you did yesterday and expect a different result today’. I think it requires more from our team.

“So, I think we need to work harder in almost all aspects, because we’re not where we want to be. We need to work harder in the final stage of the game, we need to work harder in the gym, we need to work harder with our capacity, we need to work harder with our relationships. I think it encompasses a lot of what we’re trying to do, because to get to where we want to get to, we need to do more.”

“I just want to bring my authentic self (as England captain). I think when I’m at my best, I’m combative, I’m aggressive, but I do that with any one kind of element. Of control, (I bring) an element of precision, and I guess I just want to bring that side of me, and just dial it up.”

Whilst each individual England player, fan or pundit may have a certain Six Nation penciled in as their pick of the bunch, it comes no simpler for Itoje than focusing on who’s up first. England will make the trip from their training base in Girona up to Dublin for the tournament opener, as Itoje leads the squad for a clash with Ireland at the Aviva Stadium. When asked as to which game the Saracens lock has his sights set on, Itoje kept it to the point with Ireland as his target.

“I’m looking forward to game one. Game one, playing the Irish in Ireland. What would be an incredible encounter, so game one. We definitely want to win, we definitely want to win. I know Ireland are a good team. They’re good team with a lot of quality players, and they’re very well organized. So it’s going to require us being at a high level.”

“It’s going to be a great tournament, the physicality and the speed of the game in which it’s played is always right out there during the Six Nations. I think we have six very, very good, competitive teams, so there’s going to be a high level of competition.”

One side who could well be flying under the radar in terms of being a threat to their opposition, is Gonzalo Quesada’s Italy. The Azzurri are set to celebrate their 25th anniversary as being members of the Championship, from when they extended the Five Nations into a sextet tournament back in 2000. With the official media launch event hosted in the Italian capital, Itoje was questioned on his expectations for the Azzurri, and what he expects to see from Quesada’s vastly improved side.

“I don’t think I’m afraid of anything. I think Italy are definitely not the Italy side or yesteryear, they are a much more competitive side. The results and performances from the last Six Nations showed, the growth in their game.

“I expect that Italy will turn up, which I’m sure they will be extremely passionate, and a much more organized team. They know what they do and they know what they’re trying to achieve. So, it will be a competitive game. They have some quite exciting backs. They play with speed and Italian rugby tradition has always been about the set piece. They still have a strong set piece, but they probably all added an element of organization and precision to their attack.”

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