England legend Martin Johnson believes that Dylan Hartley is a must at the Rugby World Cup
World Cup winning captain Martin Johnson is backing Dylan Hartley to be included in Eddie Jones’s England squad for this year’s tournament in Japan despite the Northampton hooker having been side-lined since December by a knee injury.
Johnson knows what it’s like to triumph at the World Cup and also the problems associated with a failed campaign having been in charge of England at the 2011 tournament in New Zealand where Hartley was part of the squad. The former Leicester lock believes experience is a key factor for England and expects Jones to pick Hartley as one of his three hookers for Japan where the 2003 champions are in the same pool as France, Argentina, USA and Tonga.
With England having failed to get out of their pool as the host country in 2015, Jones is under pressure to ensure a successful Cup challenge and Johnson said: “Trust is a big word at this point. It’s not only about who Eddie trusts in his squad, it’s also important amongst the players. You need to be lining up against players you trust will perform every time.
“There’s plenty of players who can turn it on now and then, when it’s all going their way, and everyone looks good, but you want the players who are going to perform when you’re 15-10 points down with 10 minutes to go. Who do you believe in then? Who do you trust then, and I think Dylan Hartley is one of those.
“I think Eddie Jones is already quite sure on where he is with his squad, but the players have to make sure they back it up. You can’t go into a World Cup camp thinking you are definitely on the plane to Japan, even if you already know you probably are – you have to go and produce the goods.”
The fact that 97-cap Hartley, 33, is going to be short of match practise will be a factor and Johnson sees experience as tipping the balance it the hooker’s favour. “It’s a difficult one with Dylan because you never know with these injuries, but I’m really hoping we will see him at the World Cup in the autumn,” said Land Rover ambassador Johnson, who was speaking at this season’s Premiership Final where he supported the national grassroots initiative, the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup.
“He’s a vital cog in England’s line-up as a very experienced player. If he gets to Japan, it will be his third World Cup and he will desperately want to get there. England will be sure to want him because you have to take three hookers. I think rugby-wise he would be fine, because he has played so many games in his career. When you’re as experienced as he is, you can take a little while out and come back in and be immediately okay.
“There will be players who come in because they have been doing exceptionally or because someone else has an injury, but I don’t see that person being someone who has never been in the England set-up.”
Comments on RugbyPass
The author is 100% right. The Springboks know that they don't have near the natural attraction, mana, skill and mystic the All Blacks have. So, Chasing the sun 1 & 2 was concocted to overblow the Boks image on the back of a corruptly obtained “win". It's marketing ploy to force the Boks delusion as the World's Best. I guess World Rugby is also not to be believed when it came out with an apology about how the final was officiated. And if the 2023 final such a superb game by the Boks, then the Boks crying about Referee Bryce Lawrence for decades is also deserves a laugh. Chase the sun and get burned like a moth. A very well written literary piece that tore the Boks and Chasing the sun farce to shreds. 🖤All Blacks🏉
141 Go to commentsI’d say France was far more hard done by in the 2011 final than the All Blacks in this game. Joubert simply refused to call a penalty against the All Blacks in the last quarter even directing an All Black to drop a ball he picked up in an offside position rather than penalizing him. This article also totally discounts the efforts of PSTD. Ask Jordie how well he played. Or the backup flank who played hooker for the entire game. Siya was also a brilliant tackle by Richie from scoring a blinder. Pollard was also fantastic. Look I don’t like the boks style but the only thing more questionable than the content of this article is the timing of it. Get over it already
141 Go to commentsDad Marty was also a handy rugby player for Linwood back in the day. Great bloke. Sensational softball career.
2 Go to commentsWhat ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
141 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
141 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
141 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
141 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
141 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
141 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
141 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
141 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
141 Go to commentsHo hum.
141 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
141 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
141 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
141 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
141 Go to comments