Hartley can challenge captain Sam says Cotton
DYLAN HARTLEY’S conversion from serial offender into a challenger to Sam Warburton as Lions captain is given a ringing endorsement today by one of the alltime greats.
Fran Cotton, a cornerstone of three Lions’ tours and the victorious manager of a fourth, also backs Eddie Jones’ refusal to make himself available as head coach and gives qualified support to Warren Gatland’s reappointment despite last week’s Welsh thrashing by the embryonic All Blacks.
Of Hartley’s powerful emergence on the strength of England’s clean sweep of Australia following their Six Nations’ Grand Slam, Cotton told The Rugby Paper: “Dylan has been a revelation.
“He’s cut out all the stupid stuff he used to get involved in and done an outstanding job.
“He has shown a lot of responsibility, plays well and speaks well. He has to be under serious consideration and to go back to his native country at the head of the Lions would be the ultimate.
“Hartley brings leadership and a hard edge. I’ve always liked the way he plays but not the daft things he used to do that added up to so many suspensions. Eddie making him captain has been a masterstroke but there is another season to go before the tour.
“Willie-John McBride was considered a bit of a rebel before he was made captain of the invincible Lions tour of South Africa in 1974. Some of his off-field antics were considered by some to be rebellious even for the amateur days but he became the mightiest of captains.
“Warburton and Hartley will be strong candidates provided they maintain their playing standards. With a captain you have to start with those who are going to make the Test team.
“There’s a lot of competition for Sam’s position in the back-row and he has had a lot of injury. Rory Best of Ireland will give Hartley a run for his money and I also like the look of the Welsh hooker, Ken Owens.’’
Cotton, one of the 1974 Invincibles before a heart condition ended his Lions’ playing career back in South Africa six years later, considers Gatland to be in pole position despite the 40-point hammering inflicted on Wales in Dunedin last week.
“He is still by some distance the front runner for the position,’’ said Cotton, the only Englishman to achieve a winning Lions double as player and manager.
“Is he now a bad coach or manager? The answer is no, he isn’t.
“A coach can only do so much. The players have to perform. The Welsh problem has been, and still is, that they don’t have sufficient depth to their squad.
“Despite that, Gatland has
had significant success with Wales and he has been on the last two Lions tours. He did a good job as a head coach of the Lions in Australia. The real question is whether he has the passion for the toughest tour of all?
“Has he still got that energy and desire to make sure he’s up for it? As Willie John used to say: ‘If you’re in two minds, don’t go’.”
Asked if he were back in his old position as RFU chairman and the Lions’ selectors requested Jones’ release, Cotton said: “I’d say no. We are just about to build something really exciting with this England team.
“That goes against my principles that the Lions take precedence but for the coach to take a year off is massive at this stage of the four-year cycle between World Cups.
“We have an outstanding candidate in Gatland.
“There’s no reason to distract Eddie Jones. He has enough on his plate to achieve his ambitions with England. Anyway, he’s said he doesn’t want to do the Lions job and I agree with him.
“He is only one year into the job of lifting England from the depths of the World Cup when we were on the floor. He has made tremendous progress but these things can evaporate very quickly unless you stay totally focused.
“What England achieved in Australia is fantastic for British rugby. Now we need Wales to step up to the plate. Ireland and Scotland have improved and I expect Wales to improve from where they are.’
When they last toured New Zealand, under Sir Clive Woodward 11 years ago, the bloated Lions used more than 50 players. Cotton is adamant that next year’s party be limited to ‘36 or 37.’
“We forgot the principles behind the running of Lions tours in 2005,’’ he said. “In hindsight, that was just crazy. When you take as many players as they did, some of them are only going to get one game.
“There were a load of things we did particularly poorly, we didn’t have a particularly good Lions team and the All Blacks were outstanding. Next year we should have a very good Lions squad for New Zealand and you’d expect a minimum of 15 English players.’’