I’ll swap Bible by my hotel bed for a rulebook!
DYLAN HARTLEY ON RUCK-GATE FALLOUT
England skipper dylan Hartley has admitted he took too long to adapt to Italy’s ‘ no- ruck’ tactics at Twickenham. The hooker has led an in- depth review of the game plan that bamboozled England and led Eddie Jones to label the Test a ‘joke’.
It took almost an hour for England to break down the Italians and — targeting an 18th consecutive victory against Scotland next week — Hartley is now prepared for every eventuality.
‘I don’t actually possess a rulebook, maybe I should get one,’ said Hartley. ‘There’s a Bible next to the bed in my room — I should probably replace that!
‘It was a good lesson to brush up on the laws and know my stuff. We all know that law now. We have covered the scenarios so if it happens again we can react more quickly. There’s a few ways to deal with it. Hindsight is a bitch. If I could go back I would have seen what was happening and dealt with it earlier. It took too long and that’s my fault.’
Hartley was locked in dialogue with French referee Romain Poite during the 36-15 victory. amid growing pressure on officials to become bilingual, he admitted it would help break down language barriers if players learn to speak French.
‘Potentially I could learn some French,’ said the 30-year- old, who was linked with a move to Montpellier in 2015. ‘It might help me with the later stages of my rugby career as well! I struggle to speak English when I’m sucking in seagulls (tired), as Eddie calls it.’
There has been a common theme in the opening three Tests of the championship.
England have been either trailing or level at half time, while Hartley has consistently been replaced by Jamie george early in the second half.
But the skipper is not concerned by England’s recent reliance on their bench.
‘We always prepare to play the perfect game, but you’re never going to get the perfect game,’ said Hartley, speaking at England’s training camp in Oxford. ‘People say, “You were lucky at the weekend”. It was not luck. You make your own luck by training bloody hard in the week. It’s a 23-man effort.
‘What was Fergie time? look at george Ford to Owen Farrell to Elliot daly against Wales. all of those guys started that game and those passes were pinpoint at 76 minutes under fatigue. I watch the way those guys train. There’s no luck there.’
Elsewhere, Wales full back leigh Halfpenny is close to signing a one-year contract extension with Toulon. Club owner Mourad Boudjellal is prepared to make Halfpenny the highest paid British player ever on a £750,000-per- season deal. The WRU and Cardiff Blues have offered the no 15 a £420,000per-season package, but negotiations stalled over Halfpenny’s demands to leave midway through the 2019-20 season to join a Super Rugby franchise.
Boudjellal said yesterday: ‘We are discussing. nothing is signed. It’s going well but the most important thing is whether the signature is done on it.’