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'It's all bull****' - Dylan Hartley rubbishes claims England players were 'fatigued' and the 'faceless experts' behind controversial debrief

Press Association

Former England captain Dylan Hartley has questioned who exactly had the expertise to judge head coach Eddie Jones following the publication of the RFU’s controversial Six Nations debrief. The hooker, who retired in 2019 with 97 caps, also rubbished the idea that the players were fatigued.

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The RFU recently published the finding of their debrief into England’s calamitous Six Nations performance –  with Jones’ side coming in fifth place, equalling their worst ever tournament finish.

The report was widely criticised, most notably by World Cup-winning coach Sir Clive Woodward, who branded it as ‘scandalous’ and ‘cringeworthy’.

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Dylan Hartley on the Six Nations debrief:

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Dylan Hartley on the Six Nations debrief:

Speaking on the RugbyPass Offload with Christina Mahon and Simon Zebo, Hartley questioned the resume of the report’s so-called experts, who remained anonymous.

“Every organisation reviews and debriefs and consults. It’s almost like in society now we pander to everyone, we’ve got to answer to everyone.

“Review Eddie Jones, review the performance, set expectations and standards, we all know what they are; to win, to high achieve and to perform. But don’t put it in the public domain.

“It feels like one person has said make it public, and they’ve gone ‘Ohhh, we don’t want to offend that one guy. So let’s make it public.”

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“So for me, sitting there, I don’t understand why they’re airing their dirty laundry in public. Keep it internal.

He also questioned how the experts behind the debrief could remain anonymous.

“I’m sitting here as a member of the public and a supporter and a fan of English rugby, then okay, if you’re going to put it in the public, then who are the respected rugby experts that have formed these opinions?

“It’s a bit like when you read a story about the Royal Family and it says ‘a friend of the family said this’. Put a name to it, stand by your words.

“If Eddie Jones is going to get that feedback, then let us know who it’s from; who are his bosses, who is he pleasing, who is he answering to? If it’s just like the faceless man then it’s just a bit weird.

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“Here’s a question, why not get a recently retired player like a James Haskell… someone that’s worked with Eddie and understands him. You might get someone that has a bias that supports him – like I clearly do – but to form a balanced argument or discussion, you need to hear from all parties.

“When I think of external consultants, I think of Bill Beaumont from 1953 or whenever – I mean I love you Bill – but do they mean guys who were playing in the 1980s? I’ve heard these guys on the TV and some of them haven’t a clue what they’re talking about,” said Hartley, who appeared as a pundit during the tournament. “Even me going on telly now, I’m behind.”

Hartley dismisses the idea that the players were fatigued, as the debrief suggested.

“A faceless rugby expert has said they were fatigued. I don’t think they were fatigued. How can Saracens players be fatigued when they haven’t played any rugby?

“We were saying they needed game time, then how can you say a third of the team were fatigued. I think it’s all bull***.”

“The players need to better. The coaches need to be better. They’ve got the cattle, they got good enough players. The competition got better. They need to get better.”

“Do you know what, this happens. We won back-to-back tournaments. Third-year we came fifth. Tom Curry emerged, James Haskell moved. Dylan Hartley moved on, Jamie George promoted.

“That’s the cyclical nature of performance. Eddie doesn’t have to change, just change up his selections. Tweak up a few things, who knows, we cpuld be in a World Cup final.”

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J
JW 1 hour ago
Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones

This piece is nothing more than the result of revisionist fancy of Northern Hemisphere rugby fans. Seeing what they want to see, helped but some surprisingly good results and a desire to get excited about doing something well.


I went back through the 6N highlights and sure enough in every English win I remembered seeing these exact holes on the inside, that are supposedly the fallout out of a Felix Jones system breaking down in the hands of some replacement. Every time the commentators mentioned England being targeted up the seam/around the ruck or whatever. Each game had a try scored on the inside of the blitz, no doubt it was a theme throughout all of their games. Will Jordan specifically says that Holland had design that move to target space he saw during their home series win.


Well I'm here to tell you they were the same holes in a Felix Jones system being built as well. This woe is now sentiment has got to stop. The game is on a high, these games have been fantastic! It is Englands attack that has seen their stocks increase this year, and no doubt that is what SB told him was the teams priority. Or it's simply science, with Englands elite players having worked towards a new player welfare and management system, as part of new partnership with the ERU, that's dictating what the players can and can't put their bodies through.


The only bit of truth in this article is that Felix is not there to work on fixing his defence. England threw away another good chance of winning in the weekend when they froze all enterprise under pressure when no longer playing attacking footy for the second half. That mindset helped (or not helped if you like) of course by all this knee jerk, red brained criticism.

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