Hartley cleared of spitting at the Welsh

Dylan Hartley, the England captain, was cleared of spitting at an opponent during his side’s Natwest Six Nations victory over Wales 12 days ago after alternative camera angles revealed he was nowhere near the player in question.

Hartley had been subjected to a torrent of abuse on social media in the hours after England’s 16-6 victory when a clip of the incident was posted on a website amid accusations that he had spat at Wales centre Gareth Davies while he was prostrate on the pitch.

Although the incident was not raised by the Welsh management, the Six Nations match commissioner began an investigation. Hartley told him that he had actually spat on the grass several feet away from Davies, a version of events supported by footage supplied from additional camera angles.

Hartley is therefore free to win his 92nd cap against Scotland in a game that the home side believe they can win if they put enough pressure on George Ford and Owen Farrell. Key to that approach will be Scotland centre Peter Horne, who makes his first appearance against England, having missed last year’s 61-21 trouncing.

“I came back from a ruptured syndesmosis last year and missed the first couple of games. This is my first game against England,” said Horne. “I watched the game at Twickenham. It was hard to take. We don’t want to get mugged off again, especially on our own patch.”

Ford and Farrell, Horne’s direct opponent tomorrow, lacerated Scotland’s midfield defences last time out and have combined brilliantly so far this Championship. “They are both really special so we have to make sure that we put them under pressure,” said Horne. “Ford is obviously really talented, but Farrell outside him just makes him tick and takes a lot of the pressure off him. They are both fantastic at taking the ball to the line and trying to draw people on to them and then putting other people through.”

Like Farrell, Horne has played much of his rugby at stand-off, including three of his last seven caps. He believes he can combine with incumbent Finn Russell to run the Scotland midfield in the same way that Ford and Farrell work together for England. He said: “I’ll hopefully have everything organised for him; that’s my job, my role in the team.

“I like to think I take a little bit of the pressure off him. I like to think it’s rare that you see Finn have a bad game and I’m outside him.”