Hartley: Success won’t go to our Ed

DYLAN HARTLEY insists England’s rugby stars will not become big heads – because “Eddie Jones won’t let us”.

The captain, fresh from leading his side to a 3-0 series thrashing of Australia, also admits he would love to have a crack at world champions New Zealand.

Hooker Hartley and his men are desperate to carry on their amazing rise from last autumn’s World Cup nightmare to second in the IRB rankings.

Aussie Jones has dramatically transformed the team which flopped so badly in England 2015 into a winning, fighting force that destroyed the Wallabies on their own soil.

But Hartley, 30, insists the success is not making him or his players arrogant.

The Northampton forward (below) said: “When you have a very bad trot it’s easy to get too down on yourselves. Likewise, when you’ve a good winning run it’s even easier to believe you’re better than you are.

“People can get carried away and get a little complacent with it. Once that happens you hit the slippery slope and things can quickly go downhill.

“We have intelligent guys in the squad who know where we are at now.

“Yes, we’ve won a Grand Slam and beaten Australia in three successive Tests but this has to be the start of a long winning spell.

“It’s about getting to the top and staying there and winning for as long as you can. We have a very rounded bunch of guys here so there’s no danger of us getting big heads.

“Eddie certainly would not let that happen because he doesn’t think we’ve achieved anything near what we can.

“If he did see someone getting above themselves then he would act quickly with the odd reality check.

“He’s a very driven, determined man and a great coach. His record proves that and he’s doing a fantastic job with this England squad right now.”

England are not due to face the All Blacks at Twickenham for another 16 months but Hartley said: “I’d love to play them tomorrow if I could.

“We’ve had a tiring tour but winning games and having success spurs you on to keep playing.”