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England legend Martin Johnson believes that Dylan Hartley is a must at the Rugby World Cup

Dylan Hartley during the 2018 Six Nations match between England and Wales. Photo / Getty Images

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.

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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.

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“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.

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“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.”

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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