HARTLEY: IT WAS LIKE I’D DIED WHEN SQUAD WAS ANNOUNCED
DYLAN HARTLEY has opened up for the first time on the injury torment which saw him left out of England’s World Cup squad.
The former England captain, 33, has not played since December 21 having suffered a left knee injury. His most recent, and 97th, England cap came against Australia in November 2018.
And while he will not retire from the game yet, Hartley admits his Test career is all but over — as he revealed the horrifying ordeal he endured after missing out on Eddie Jones’ 31-man squad.
‘When the World Cup squad was announced, it was almost like I’d died,’ said the Northampton Saints hooker. ‘Friends were getting in touch and seeing if I was OK. I wanted to keep playing. Otherwise I’d be retired now and doing the media rounds in Japan.
‘In my headspace, I’m still kind of hoping to be involved, but the reality is I’m not going to be unless there are a couple of horrific injuries. The Rugby World Cup — that’s gone. They’ve literally flown.
‘Ultimately the way I looked at my whole rugby career and how I wanted it to pan out, and how it was going, was that this would have been the ultimate send-off, the dream finish to an international career. The reality is you pick up an injury.
‘For four years we have talked about winning the World Cup with Eddie and I’ve led that group, been a part of that journey, so to fall at the final hurdle...
‘I wake up most nights thinking about it. It doesn’t sit well with me but I have come to terms with it. You have to crack on. It’s just s***. It’s unfortunate, it’s the way it goes.
‘I genuinely think England have a good chance to go and win it. The worst thing for me is to think if my leg wasn’t f***** at the moment I could be there with them, winning a World Cup. It’s hard to swallow. I hope they go and win.’
Sportsmail exclusively revealed in June that Hartley would not be in the England training squad and he now admits he tried to rush back too soon.
‘I tried a very aggressive approach because I was given some deadlines to meet and it did not work,’ he added. ‘I basically ended up in a worse position for trying to come back too early.
‘I had a pretty frank conversation with Eddie Jones and the staff at Northampton and we agreed a long-term approach is best for my leg.
‘It was around the start of the England camps, when they first got together around the start of July. I tried getting back for that and put myself in a bit of a hole physically and mentally.’
Hartley would not explain the extent of his knee problem but was frustrated that he damaged it further on Worcester’s artificial pitch last December, having ‘tweaked’ it three weeks before at home to Newcastle.
‘ I don’t agree with artificial pitches,’ he said. ‘I’m not in any way blaming the pitch but I’d be interested to see who’s actually favouring them.’
Hartley ( right) then detailed the expert help he sought in America to try to rid him of the injury.
On the suggestion of England head coach Jones, who he spoke to at Wimbledon this summer, Hartley spent his holiday budget to visit Bill Knowles — a knee specialist who worked miracles with Sir Andy Murray and Bournemouth football player Callum Wilson — in Philadelphia. ‘This guy is world-renowned, the best going,’ said Hartley. ‘I lived in an Airbnb for two weeks, trained twice a day, basically lived abroad in training kit and was too knackered to do anything in the evenings. It has given me a nice little springboard.’ Hartley is around four weeks from a return to playing but will not force a comeback. With no assurances from Jones that he will add to his 97 caps, the former skipper is desperate just to play again. Asked what has kept him going, Hartley said: ‘School fees! My daughter has just started school. It’s not cheap. ‘And the realisation that I probably don’t have much longer to play. So, one is wanting to play more games and finish the season with the club. And, it sounds corny, just enjoy it. Enjoy playing.
‘No pressure of international rugby. I’m not saying I’ve retired from that. The way it’s gone at the moment, I’m not in their minds.
‘I’ve never counted caps, but when you get to 97, you think: “Should I have just pushed through and tried to play that game?”
‘Not everyone can have the fairytale ending like Richie McCaw holding up the World Cup in his last ever game. It’s not perfect. That’s sport. That’s life. The good thing is it has not done for me just yet. I still want to play. I am still competitive. I am just not fast.
‘I’ll congratulate the boys when they come home. I’ll be hanging off the side of the open-top bus, in my 97th-cap shirt from the Australia match. And even that shirt will be old by then, won’t it?’
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