Hartley: I must earn England place
Saints hooker faces battle with fierce rival George ‘Saracens clash will show how far we have come’
Northampton hooker Dylan Hartley goes head to head with fierce rival Jamie George today in the Champions Cup insisting there is no guarantee of him staying as England captain for the November Tests – and nor is there any complacency on his part.
George missed Saracens’ 55-24 demolition of the Saints on the opening weekend of the season, making today’s fixture the first time the hookers have faced each other since George started all three Tests for the British and Irish Lions in New Zealand.
With many calling for Eddie Jones to select George for the autumn internationals off the back of his form for the Lions, Hartley’s sole focus for now is on performing strongly for his club.
Hartley said: “I’m an aspiring England player. I’m not an England player. If I play well for my club, as an aspiring England player, then good, I’ll give myself a good shot. Eddie has made it clear that he is not just picking players because of what they have done [before]. It needs to be earned.”
That blank slate according to Hartley also extends to his England captaincy, despite his excellent winning record leading his country, with the 31-yearold taking note of George’s hat-trick for Saracens against Wasps last Sunday.
Hartley has captained England to 19 wins in 20 Tests since taking over from Chris Robshaw following the 2015 Rugby World Cup, including the recent two-match tour of Argentina.
“[I’m an] aspiring England captain. If it is on anyone, it is on me to make an example. I need to be playing well. Try and score a hat-trick this weekend!”
While George was the No1 choice for the Lions at hooker this summer, he has yet to start a Test for England, making 17 appearances from the bench – 14 of those to replace Hartley – since Jones took charge.
“We have got a good working relationship and again I look forward to the challenge,” Hartley said. “It is not about me and him. We are team-mates in another environment, so it works.”
Northampton have won four out of five since that horror show at Twickenham, with results against Leicester Tigers and Bath turning around a season which appeared destined for trouble.
Hartley and the squad had a day’s less training this week to go clay pigeon shooting, allowing for some extra rest, before a fixture that Hartley feels will offer a good indication of where Northampton now stand as a team, with an emphasis on physicality being stressed in training ahead of today’s encounter. “Six weeks ago we got a hiding,” Hartley acknowledges. “That was us being at one end of the scale and they at the other. It was a good thing for us, that first game, in a roundabout way.
“The sun was shining, the grass looked good and we were winning games – and then you get a humbling defeat like that. To get another shot to test ourselves again against the European champions and league leaders domestically is a good opportunity for us to see where we are at.
“We went back to the drawing board. When everything is going well you can cut corners and have complacent preparations so we went back to basics.
“One thing we lacked in that game – and you cannot lack in a game of rugby – is physicality. You can’t take to the pitch if you are not going to be physical because you are on the back foot all day and it is a very difficult game to be in when you are not winning collisions.”
The European Champions Cup is without question the jewel in northernhemisphere club rugby’s crown. When I was at Northampton, back in the early days of the competition in the mid-1990s, we made a point of treating it as such. It was always our priority rather than the Premiership. You knew that winning it would confer upon you not only the respect of your rivals at home but the rest of Europe, too.
To my mind it really should be the final club game of the season, as that is the way all the top clubs in Europe think. In fact, I think Saracens may well have done the double again last season had that been the case, simply because it is so difficult to come down from the sort of psychological and emotional high they experienced after their win against Clermont.
Make no mistake, though, if the outcome is the same this year, Saracens will continue to prioritise Europe over the Premiership. A third consecutive win would emulate Toulon. Toulouse are the most successful side in the competition’s history, with four wins.
When you look at the other clubs who, in their turn, have made an impact on Europe, you see so many similarities in their make-up; strong personalities in key areas, prepared to challenge team-mates and opponents alike and take responsibility for setting standards.
Leicester – Martin Johnson, Wasps – Lawrence Dallaglio, Munster – Paul O’Connell, Leinster – Brian O’Driscoll. Strong men but, just as importantly, surrounded by strong lieutenants. It is easy to forget some of the powerful and influential names who made up the driving core of their successes. Every year the game has become more competitive and tactically challenging, and it is these teams who kept challenging the parameters, simply because they are able to approach games with such varied strengths and qualities.
In the last six years it is Toulon and Saracens who have raised standards year on year. Saracens have strong personalities all over the pitch, including their bench. And it does not feel as if they have peaked yet.
That is why I believe Mark McCall’s team will be taking this afternoon’s match at Northampton so seriously. They know they can win this again and make history. It may be early days in this competition, there may be another five pool games after this one, there may be seven months before the final in Bilbao. But this season more than ever, consistency is going to be so, so important.
There are no gimmes this year. Even Treviso have won three matches in the Pro 14 this season, including away at Edinburgh. Whoever wins next May will be able to trace their victory right back to this opening weekend.
Northampton are extremely dangerous opponents first up, especially at Franklin’s Gardens. They finished bottom of their pool last year, even with the rampaging Louis Picamoles in the team, but they are one of the form sides in Europe, having rediscovered it since they were hammered 55-24 at Twickenham on the opening weekend of this year’s Premiership. Saints were caught out at the breakdown in that game, and by Saracens’ speed off the ball, particularly in the first half. But once Northampton began to make a few inroads in the second half, Saracens started to make errors. They will have learnt from that and realised what they need to do. And they are capable of doing it. They have dangerous players. George North is scoring again. Courtney Lawes has some serious form – his time with the Lions really seems to have lifted his game, off the ball as much as on it. His positioning, his game involvement, is massive now.
I’m looking forward to seeing Piers Francis up against Owen Farrell at 10. And I’m very interested to see Maro Itoje playing at six. I think maybe away from home McCall wants an extra man in the line-out to take on Lawes. Play a territorial kicking game which keeps Northampton in their own half, and then challenge their line-out possession, with their extra jumper, thus nullifying one of Saints’ biggest threats. Northampton should take it as a compliment. Although they were a late guest to this party, with that play-off win over Stade in May, they are capable of being serious party poopers in this year’s Champions Cup. They must get ahead – at least eight points – and then try to keep control of their possession and hence territory.
I still think Saracens are favourites because they can control the scoreboard and manipulate the game when it matters. But Northampton are well capable of causing an upset. And if they do lose, Saracens – for all their undoubted pedigree – will be right up against it from the very first weekend. After today’s game they have a home match against Ospreys next weekend, which they should win. But they then have to face Clermont home and away in a double header in December. Effectively a European
Cup final twice in a week.
That is why the Champions Cup is the best club competition in the world. This fascinating opening fixture for the champions reflects just how tough it has become.
If they do lose, then Saracens will be right up against it from first weekend