End of the world Cipriani, Hartley and Brown on being left behind by Jones
Former England captain admits World Cup pain Hooker hopes to return from knee injury soon
Dylan Hartley has admitted he still wakes up at night thinking about the painful way his World Cup dream with England came to a premature end, after his rushed attempt to be fit in time for Japan backfired.
The former England captain is recovering from the troublesome knee injury that has kept him off the field since December, although he wishes to keep the details of the problem private.
Hartley was installed as England captain when Eddie Jones took over and guided the side to two Six Nations titles, including a Grand Slam in 2016, but the national side have now travelled to Japan without him at the helm.
Having missed the 2015 tournament due to suspension, Hartley had viewed the 2019 edition in Japan as the perfect conclusion to his career. “Ultimately the way I looked at my whole rugby career and how I wanted it to pan out this would have been the ultimate send-off, the dream finish to an international career. The reality is you pick up an injury,” Hartley said. “For four years we have talked about winning the World Cup with Eddie and I have led that group, been a part of that journey, so to fall at the final hurdle… I don’t know the feeling. I wake up most nights thinking about it. It doesn’t sit well with me, but I have come to terms with it.
“Not everyone can have the fairytale ending – Richie Mccaw holding up the World Cup in his last game. Not everyone has that. It’s not perfect. That’s sport. That’s life.
“I genuinely think England have got as good a chance to go and do it. The worst thing for me is to think if my leg wasn’t f **** d at the moment I could be there with them, winning a World Cup. It’s hard to swallow, really. I hope they go and win. I’ll get on and be a glory supporter – ‘remember me guys?’”
Hartley revealed he was set a deadline to be fit for England’s training camp at the start of July by Jones and opted for an “aggressive approach” to rehabilitating his injury, which ultimately failed.
“I tried an approach with my knee, a very aggressive approach, because I was given some deadlines to meet, and the aggressive approach did not work. I basically ended up in a worse position for trying to come back too early,” he said.
“Ever since that happened, I knew I wasn’t going to make the deadline. I had a pretty frank conversation with Eddie and the staff at Northampton, and we kind of agreed a long-term approach is best for my leg. The game moves fast – it
doesn’t wait. I can understand why there were deadlines. The team needed to prepare, and if I can’t physically help the team to prepare I can understand why I wasn’t needed.”
That long-term approach to fixing his knee has included time spent in Philadelphia with Bill Knowles, based on a recommendation by Jones. Knowles has previously worked with Jonny Wilkinson and Andy Murray.
“This guy is world renowned, the best going. He is one-on-one with you for four or five hours a day. It is intense. Just to have his philosophy on my injury, and how he communicated with me… the two weeks I had with him are the perfect foundation for me to progress. It has given me a nice little springboard to slowly go on the up.”
Hartley had enough time in advance to brace himself for the emotional confirmation that he would not be part of England’s World Cup squad, although he still received plenty of messages of support.
“When the World Cup squad was announced, it was almost like I’d died. Friends getting in touch and seeing if I was OK,” Hartley said. “But I’ve actually had time to prepare for how that was going to go. I’ve had a long time to come to terms with where I’m at.”
That return date for Northampton has been cautiously pencilled in for the opening rounds of the new season. He has also stepped aside from the co-captaincy at Northampton, a role now filled by Alex Waller and Teimana Harrison. “When you pick up an injury, you still contribute to things going on, but it’s so hard to be a voice when you are not actually in the trenches with the boys,” he added.
Hartley is absolutely not retiring, from either England duty or club rugby. “As soon as we took a longterm view on [the injury], I wanted to keep playing. Otherwise I would be retired now. The good thing is it’s not done for me just yet. I still want to play. I am still competitive.”