Faith, and contingency plans, will be a theme for Maro Itoje over the next five weeks - during the British and Irish Lions Tour of Australia.
At his unveiling as Lions captain in May, he revealed he had missed Bible study to be there. When he was promoted to England captain in January, his pastor was one of six people he told before the public announcement.
Asked about the long journey to both posts, Itoje has a simple explanation: "God's timing is always the best time.
"In the last two or three years I have made a conscious decision to double down in that regard." he said. "I was probably a lukewarm Christian for a large part of my life.
I was probably someone who went to church but was not really living the principles or values of it that deeply, but I have always been a believer.
"The humility that I have tried to embody throughout my life definitely comes from knowing that everything I have has been a gift, not by my own doing, but by the guy upstairs." By Itoje's high standards and own admission, that humility wasn't always present on previous Lions tours.
"I try to have a daily amount of time that I spend, whether that is reading the Bible or praying, ideally both," he explains.
"I also try and do Bible study once or twice a week at least. I am going to try and maintain the system I have over in Australia, with Zoom and Whatsapp video calls."
Itoje's previous Lions tours have come down to the wire. In New Zealand, his team was ahead for only three minutes across three Tests, but came away with a drawn series.
In South Africa, four years later, Morne Steyn's kick, two minutes from time in the deciding third encounter, dashed the tourists' dreams. But Itoje has his philosophy and his peace.
"Sport is unpredictable, you don't know how things are going to transpire," he says.
"Sometimes you can deserve to win and lose, and sometimes you can deserve to lose and win - there is not necessarily rhyme or reason for that. You have to just stay as consistent as possible through your actions and hope, through it all, you end up in the place you are supposed to be."
Faith is just one part of a hinterland as wide as the outback. Itoje describes himself as having a "portfolio existence" off the pitch, with the Akoje Gallery, which he founded in 2023, a prominent part.
"There is a commercial aspect to it - we want to sell art - but we also want to propel and promote art, particularly African art," he says.
"It is a massive market and full of talent and we want to help provide opportunities for artists in our care." Last year, the Akoje Gallery funded residencies for seven artists to spend time developing their work at the stately Dumfries House in rural Ayrshire in Scotland.
Itoje also set up the Pearl Fund, which helps disadvantaged children in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. He has a keen interest in politics - having a degree in it from SOAS, University of London - he has since also earned a Masters degree in business.
"I am a rugby player, I am an athlete, but that is what I do, not who I am,” he said.
“I have other interests." Former England coach Eddie Jones publicly doubted whether Itoje was captaincy material.
Jones claimed Itoje was "very inward-looking" and lacked influence over his team-mates. Itoje politely, but firmly, disagreed. The Lions, though, are another level, with much more scrutiny, and fewer home comforts.
