Hartley throws the book at Jones

FORMER England captain Dylan Hartley has offered a revealing insight into working with head coach Eddie Jones and discussed the brutal way the Aussie ended his Test career.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Telegaph to promote his new book – ‘The Hurt’ – Hartley also discusses the alarming toll the sport has taken on his body and called for the workloads of international players to be reduced.

The uncompromising hooker, who was made England captain by Jones, holds his former coach in the highest regard and rates him as the best he played under.

But the article, informed by Hartley’s book, goes on to state how players were “frightened” of Jones and “dreaded” training camps due to Jones’ relentless pursuit of perfection.

Quoting Hartley, it also reveals how assistant coaches didn’t want to be seen on the phone to loved ones “because they didn’t want to give Eddie the impression they were anything less than 100 per cent devoted to the cause”.

The 93-cap hooker eventually stopped his own family visiting during down-time because “it would have felt like a prison visit”.

But it was difficult to argue with Jones’ methods when he was so successful. He took a team which was dumped out of their own World Cup in 2015 and turned them into finalists four years later, with back-to-back Six Nations titles in 2016 and 2017.

A knee injury, though, prevented Hartley from travelling to Japan for last year’s World Cup and effectively ended his England career.

A phone call to confirm this was ‘brutal’, Hartley revealed.