Sam Warburton backs English pair to shine on tour in 2025

August 11, 2021
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Ultimate Rugby

Former British and Irish Lions' captain Sam Warburton says he can’t wait for the Lions tour to Australia in 2025 and has picked out two Englishmen as potential standout stars for the trip Down Under.

Warburton picked out Marcus Smith as well as the 2021 Player of the Series, Maro Itoje.

"I can’t wait for 2025," he said in his Times column.

"So much can happen between now and then, but you would already think that someone like the fly-half Marcus Smith could be a real star on that trip and Maro Itoje will be the red-hot favourite to be captain.

"The players will already be starting to think about it. I know that’s what I did in 2013 when I missed the last Test through injury. My immediate aim was to make the trip in 2017. It is the pinnacle and will always be so."

Maro Itoje has been named as the Lions Player of the Series 🦁#LionsRugby #BoksvLions pic.twitter.com/oHNZux7di8
— Ultimate Rugby (@ultimaterugby) August 9, 2021

Nevertheless, Warburton believes the series should have been played on home soil, which was one of the options on the table before the schedule in South Africa was confirmed.

"I can’t help but think that it was a missed opportunity to have the series at home," he added.

"I know it would have had an asterisk next to it in the history books, but I couldn’t see the real advantage of going to South Africa because there were no crowds. With the South Africa ‘A’ game in addition to the three Test matches, you could have played one match at each of the four home nations grounds, Twickenham, BT Murrayfield, the Aviva Stadium and the Principality Stadium."