The continued inclusion of Dylan Hartley in the England starting XV, let alone his choice as Captain, is still stirring debate up and down the country ahead of the resumption of the Nat West 6 Nations this weekend. Following defeat by Scotland, and with France looming, can Eddie Jones really continue to put his faith in a player who has clearly lost form for club and country and is regularly replaced early in games?
Even former England Internationals are beginning to question his wisdom with ex Captain Lawrence Dallaglio commenting –
“Ideally, the captain should be one of the team’s strongest players but Hartley is not. He is often one of the first players to be substituted and, again, that is far from ideal. My feeling is that if the captain is not the best English player in his position you are starting from a bad place, and I don’t see Hartley as being better than Jamie George. I can see why the coach might not want to change his captain but in my view, there is greater risk in not making the change.”
It is a point that supporters of Hartley will find difficult to argue with. Surely nobody can counter the fact that, at the moment and on current form, Hartley is not the best player in his position. Some would even say that he is, at best, 3rd in the pecking order! He is frequently replaced early in games and his contribution in games has definitely diminished.
We are pretty sure that this would have been debated behind closed doors at the England training base in deepest Surrey, but Eddie Jones seems to be a pretty determined and single minded kind of guy so we can’t see him replacing Dylan as Captain any time soon…..but watch this space! If you want to improve your skills, Coaching Masterclasses will help you with this
