“He’s just thriving. It’s quite clear to see.” It is too early to be poring over the record books just yet but a try (or two) against Wales and we may see Dan Sheehan feature in a lot more Six Nations headlines and stories. The championship record try-scoring tally is eight tries in four ‘Five Nations’ […]

2 years ago

“I smashed into Cian Healy’s knee.” Dylan Hartley won a clutch of trophies with England – most notably the 2016 Grand Slam – but silverware at the highest level of club rugby proved tougher to seize. Two finals that the former England captain reached, and has regrets over, were the climaxes of the 2011 Heineken […]

3 years ago

AUSTRALIA 17-21 ENGLAND In the final ever Test rugby game at the Sydney Cricket Ground, England were able to stave off an Australian comeback. Dylan Hartley feels they are building nicely to the 2023 World Cup. England went 3-0 ahead through Owen Farrell but Australia looked dangerous with ball-in-hand. After one close call, the Wallabies […]

3 years ago

“We showed the footage to everyone working here, earlier, and there was a cheer!” In his rugby career, Dylan Hartley was suspended on seven different occasions, for a total of 60 weeks. 2007 saw him banned for 26 weeks for ‘making contact with the eyes’ of Wasps forwards Jonny O’Connor and James Haskell. He had […]

4 years ago

“We came from a tee-total culture.” As assistant coach to Stuart Lancaster [England] and Joe Schmidt [Ireland], Andy Farrell observed how to meticulous planners went about getting their teams ready for sessions, games and tournaments. As assistant to Warren Gatland on a couple of Lions tours, he saw how the Kiwi loosened the reigns in […]

4 years ago

“Well, what’s the other f***ing option?!” Dylan Hartley can still remember his first press conference after being named England captain by new head coach Eddie Jones, back in 2016. England were not far removed from a disastrous World Cup campaign, when they, as hosts, failed to make it past the group stages. Most of the […]

4 years ago