‘We didn’t lose hope until the very end’published at 14:18 GMT
Image source, GettyMaro Itoje told the Times this weekend that he would have struggled to play in the immediate aftermath of his mother Florence’s death shortly before Christmas.
The Saracens second row was out for more than a month after the autumn internationals, only making his comeback from a knee injury in match against Leicester on 4 January.
“It would have been very difficult to have played off the back of the news,” he said., external
“It gave me time to grieve. It’s been difficult, to be honest. It’s been challenging on both the professional and personal front. It’s just the paradox of life.”
Itoje captained the British and Irish Lions to a series victory in Australia and married his fiancee Mimi last year.
“It’s been one of the most joyous, celebratory years of my life; getting married, the Lions, England back to where we think we should be, playing my 200th game for Saracens. So many milestones that were hit.
“But at the same time, my mum was going through it. It wasn’t necessarily linear, so she got better, got worse, got better, got worse. We didn’t lose hope until the very end. It wasn’t easy. There were points throughout the year where I was extremely fatigued from an emotional point of view.”
