England will play their first minutes of Six Nations rugby without Maro Itoje on the pitch for almost seven years on Saturday after the captain was named on the bench for their opening game of the campaign against Wales. Itoje missed the start of England's preparations for the tournament in Girona to attend his mother Florence's funeral in Nigeria. "It's been difficult, to be honest," the 2025 British and Irish Lions captain told the Sunday Times , external of his grief. "It's been challenging