England prodigy Maro Itoje to start Rugby World Cup warm-up match

Maro Itoje, the Saracens lock, is likely to be handed a starting place in one of England’s two World Cup warm-up matches against France in August, underscoring the growing belief that the 20 year-old rookie is a serious contender to break into Stuart Lancaster’s final 31-man squad.

Itoje was one of seven uncapped players yesterday named in the 50-man training squad.

Despite breaking into the Saracens team only in January, he looks set to survive when Lancaster reduces his squad to around 35 players following the training camp in Denver in July.

Mark McCall, the Saracens director of ru…