FORMER BRITISH AND Irish Lions coach Ian McGeechan has urged Eddie Jones to appoint Dylan Hartley as England captain.
Jones will officially begin his duties as England’s new head coach next week, having been appointed as Stuart Lancaster’s successor in the wake of a miserable Rugby World Cup campaign.
One of the Australian’s first tasks will be to select his skipper, with Chris Robshaw’s position seemingly vulnerable after he was criticised by Jones during the World Cup.
McGeechan told the Telegraph: “For me, were I coach, Dylan Hartley is the player I would go for.”
Hartley’s career has been blighted by disciplinary problems and the 29-year-old hooker was left out of England’s World Cup squad by Lancaster in May after receiving a four-week ban for headbutting.
However, McGeechan added: “This situation needs a strong personality and character to lead England. And Hartley is that man. He has been captain of Northampton. It is not as if it is a new role for him.
“Yes, there is an element of the gamble about it because of Hartley’s disciplinary record, but that is where you back yourself as a coach.
“You have to give Hartley a very clear understanding of what you expect from him. Yellow cards simply cannot be a part of it.
“Whenever I have spoken to Hartley, I have found that you can have a very good rugby conversation with him. He seems to me that he has a good rugby brain, and I think he could form a really good rapport with Jones because it is so important that the coach and captain have a close and special relationship.”
In his introductory news conference earlier this month, Jones did not rule out sticking with England’s current skipper, but McGeechan expects a change.
“I think Jones will move on from Chris Robshaw,” he stated. “I see that he [Jones] has said that he will have a coffee with Robshaw soon, which, of course he should do, and it might be that he strikes up such a rapport with him that he decides to continue with him.
“But I doubt it, because equally he will be asking himself: ‘Where is this team and where do we want to take it?’ And to me it would be obvious that he would want a new leader to take the team forwards.”
I know it is February, I know it is the league, I know it is Offaly
@Fergus McGrath: diff
@Fergus McGrath: different tears in Michael Duignan’s eyes this evening
Limerick surely favourites for Liam this year by the looks of things!
@Paddy: you MUST be a hurling genius
@conor murphy: By god I am, having listened to many a Limerick fan over the years, they have me NEARLY brainwashed
@Paddy: limerick favourites? You mad? A munster final and all ireland semi (even though I think there’s more in this side) I’d be happy with for this year
@David Dooley: Excuse me for not making my sarcasm more clear.
@David Dooley: That would be an amazing season for Limerick, I can’t see it happening though..
I was at the game. Limerick were very poor for long periods in the game. The team still appear to be preoccupied with possession hurling from the back( think man city). Offaly got great success from pressing hard in limerick halfback line and midfield area. Limerick weren’t clever enough to recognise this and see the space behind that press and were regularly turned over. The turning points were a missed penalty, soft sending off and 5 pointable frees by iffy.