Eddie Jones praises Dylan Hartley’s captaincy of England
Hartley, the only player to have started all 22 Tests under Jones, was at the helm for a fifth successive victory over Australia
Eddie Jones has given Dylan Hartley’s England captaincy its strongest endorsement yet to edge him closer to retaining the role for the 2019 World Cup.
Hartley, the only player to have started all 22 Tests under Jones, was at the helm for a fifth successive victory over Australia on Saturday after a trio of late tries at Twickenham saw the Wallabies collapse to a record 30-6 defeat.
Jones stated in May that Hartley could be his World Cup skipper if he continued his upward trajectory having initially viewed him as a “foundation” captain as part of a two-year plan.
The opening half of the Australian’s four-year contract will conclude after the clash against Samoa on Saturday with Hartley’s leadership already having scaled fresh heights in the eyes of his head coach.
“Dylan was outstanding. His captaincy was first-class. He’s moving from being a good captain to being a better captain,” Jones said.
“He manages the referee well, manages the team well. He’s got a good demeanour about him with the referee.
“Your ability to communicate effectively with the referee is so important and he does that brilliantly.
“He’s been around a bit. He’s seen the bottom of the trough and he’s now surfing at the top of the crest and he appreciates relationships.
“He appreciates the opportunity of what he’s doing at the moment and he’s only going to grow as captain.”
Owen Farrell is seen as Hartley’s successor in the role, but Jones suggests the Saracens playmaker remains an apprentice in leadership terms.
“He’s a youngster in terms of captaincy but the more experience he gets the better he’ll be,” Jones said.
England led only 13-6 before Danny Care came on in the final 10 minutes to create tries for Jonathan Joseph and Jonny May before crossing himself in injury time.
While Australia coach Michael Cheika fumed as two of his players were sin-binned and two tries were disallowed for offside while a tight match was finely poised, Jones was able to marvel at his team’s ruthless streak.
“You’ve just got to go through New Zealand’s record in the last five or six years and see how many Test matches they’ve won in the last 20 minutes,” Jones said.
“That’s when it counts. You get in the contest in the first 20 and then you win the contest in the last 20.”
Jones wants England to complete an unprecedented “three-peat” of Six Nations titles once Samoa have been negotiated, but Joe Launchbury is happy to reflect on an important result against Australia.
“We make no secret of where we want to go as a side. If we want to be the best side we must beat all the teams around us,” Saturday’s man of the match said.
“Australia came to Twickenham in a great patch of form and had been playing some great rugby – some players were really firing for them. It feels like a significant win.”
