England Rugby star's love for Jay Jay Okocha is so much he would love to have dinner with him, President Obama and Muhammad Ali!

Maro Itoje is considered by the English media as "the rising star of English rugby". The 21-year-old who was born in Camden to Nigerian parents, is a Grand Slam winner, European champion and has been outstanding on England’s tour of Australia despite making his Red Rose debut only in January.

He is also the Land Rover Discovery of the Year — all by the age of 21. Itoje, an Arsenal fans, who revealed until recently he didn't like watching rugby, talked about his first sports love, football.

"Growing up it was all about football. When I was growing up, really any opportunity I had I would get my football from the back garden and walk with my cousins and brother to the local park and play six- or seven-a-side against other young guys. I’m an Arsenal fan. They’ve been a bit disappointing recently but hopefully they’ll come back to their former glory."

So why rugby?

"I chose rugby because I was relatively better at it than other sports. I just enjoyed playing it. It is a fun game, you play with your team-mates, they are your friends and you have fun, there is a good team spirit about it."

So who will be his dream dinner-party guests?

"My dream dinner-party guests would be Barack Obama, Muhammad Ali and Jay-Jay Okocha. I haven’t seen Okocha in the flesh but I’ve watched all of his YouTube videos.
If I could turn any moment from sporting history into a film I’d pick the Nigerian Olympic football team with Kanu and Okocha winning the gold medal in 1996. They had a good team back then. Alex Iwobi, Okocha’s nephew, is doing well and hopefully he keeps flying the flag."

England or Nigeria, who would he back in a football game?

"I definitely want to have a holiday home in Nigeria but north London will be me for the foreseeable future. I went to Nigeria last summer and might go again this summer. Nigeria and England haven’t played each other at football for years. I support both of them and want them both to do well. If they came together at the next World Cup, I’d probably support Nigeria to be honest."

He is unbeaten in his 25 starts for London based rugby team, Saracens and England this season. The lock has made 12 Premiership starts, eight in Europe and five in Tests for England.