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With all options still open for Maro Itoz’s summer schedule, England head of performance Phil Morrow said a final decision on the captaincy would be made in a fortnight.
Itoje is resting at home instead of taking part in a three-day England get-together this week and has previously agreed to an early exit from a training camp in May.
The 31-year-old has played more than 30 matches in each of the past two seasons, breaching the proposed limit of 2,400 match minutes in 2023-24 and avoiding doing so in 2024-25.
After leading the British and Irish Lions to a series win over Australia last summer, his arrival at England’s Six Nations training camp earlier this year was delayed as he attended his mother’s funeral.
England are considering resting Itoje for part or all of a demanding Nations Championship summer that begins against South Africa in Johannesburg on July 4 before matches against Fiji in Liverpool and Argentina in Santiago del Estero over the next two weekends.
“We will make a final decision in the next few weeks,” said Morrow, who worked with Etoje in his previous role as performance director at Saracens.
“Everything is on the table right now.
“There’s a few weeks left in the season, some guys in his position are still playing games, so all those things have to be factored in, because it’s not as black and white as it’s often made out to be.”
Leicester duo George Martin and Ollie Chesham, Northampton’s Alex Coles and Bath’s Charlie Ewells are among the participants in this weekend’s Love semi-finals.
England plan to announce their Nations Championship squad a few days after the final on June 20.
Harlequins’ Chandler Cunningham-South, another England second-row option, is currently sidelined with a calf injury, which Morrow described as “a bit more complicated”.
However, first-choice scrum-half Alex Mitchell could still go on the summer tour after a hamstring strain in England duty ruled him out of the remainder of Northampton’s home campaign.
“He’s in rehab right now and it’s going well,” Morrow said.
“We’ll see what the next few weeks bring for him. There’s a possibility (he could tour).”
England’s concerns at loose-head prop, where they have already lost Finn Baxter to a recurring foot problem and could be without Bevan Rod of Sale, have been eased with Ellis returning from a calf strain in time to face the Springboks at Ganges in Bristol.
