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Welcome back to Sky Sports Breakfast. Now on a Saturday morning, you might be having a very chilled start to your weekend. You might be making a pre-match meal or like a lot of people, you might be getting involved in a park run. Well, there's a new initiative being launched to keep more people moving and to tell us all about it. Delighted to say we've got a very special guest, England, British and Irish Lions and Saracens captain, Maro Itoje. A very good morning to you, Maro. Did you take part in the park run this morning? I believe you're at Battersea Park. Good morning. Yep, yep, I'm here at Battersea Park with Vitality with the Gift to Move campaign. And yeah, it's been great. The energy's
been great and I'm happy to be a part of it. So, tell us about this campaign and why it matters. What's it all about? Yeah, so essentially the campaign is all about the general vibe and the general, I guess, belief of Vitality to help people move, help people live active lives. And the Gift to Move campaign is all about people donating their trainers, good quality old trainers that they no longer have use for and it will go to someone or go to an environment where they need it and will help them help them move. Often with sport, often with exercise, one of the barriers to access is equipment. [snorts] So, this campaign helps people in their journey to live active lives. Sounds like a brilliant initiative. I can see
some fairly giant trainer bins behind you. Let's talk Saracens though because we are now in the final month of the Prem season. You've still got a chance of making the playoffs after a hard-fought win over Leicester last weekend. What's the feeling like in the camp heading into your final three games? Yeah, we're very excited. I think there's a good energy, there's a good buzz in our team at the moment. And we just have to take care of business, take care of what we can control. We have some pretty tough games coming up, but I think one by one, if we keep on winning, if we keep the momentum, I think we can be in a great position by the end of the season. You're wearing a red t-shirt today. We are of course
accustomed to seeing you in red shirts because you captained the Lions to that memorable series victory in Australia last year. What did you make of the news this week that the Lions are looking at the possibility of perhaps touring France in future? Um so, if you I didn't forget the question. Say that again, please. said what did you make of the news this week that the Lions are exploring the possibility of touring France in the future? Okay. Yeah, you know, I think that one of the great things about the Lions is its tradition and, you know, I grew up watching the Lions play South Africa, play New Zealand, play Australia and all great tours. I think the Lions is expanding. I think
there's probably scope for the Lions to play games against France, play games in probably different regions of the world. But I think, you know, with evolution and I think it's about it's about exploring new opportunities whilst remaining its true to its traditional core. So, who knows? Maybe a full-blown tour to France might be a good thing or maybe just a one-off game before they go and play the traditional three nations. That's a fascinating one. We know you're a big Arsenal fan, so we've got to ask you about the title race with Manchester City. Arsenal could be six points clear if you beat Fulham in the Saturday night football. Whose shoes would you rather be in for this run-in, the hunter or the hunted?
Um I'd rather be in Arsenal's shoes. I think Arsenal are we're we're in a good position. If I think it's well within our control. If we win today, the pressure's on City. And yeah, I think Arsenal, you know, for years I've been an Arsenal fan pretty much all my life and for the last 10, 15 years, you know, we haven't been in as strong as position we are in today. So, I think it's great. I think it's amazing and I think the boys can do it. You're used to making inspirational speeches as a captain. What would your message be to Mikel Arteta's side this afternoon ahead of this Saturday night football game against Fulham?
Yeah, well, I don't know if they need me for any inspirational speech, but I think the general thing I'll be saying would probably be just believe in yourself, believe in the team, believe in what you've done. They've done amazing to get this far. They've been close for a number of years and these opportunities don't come very often. You know, they have a realistic chance to win the Premier League, have a realistic chance to go deep in Europe and potentially win Europe. So, you know, sometimes you think you'll always have another opportunity whereas you don't you know, we don't know what the future holds. So, I'll just be saying embrace the moment. Maro, thank you so much for joining us this morning. It's been a
pleasure to speak to you and best of luck for the rest of morning down at Battersea Park.
