England rugby captain: Dylan Hartley expected to be confirmed as new skipper

Dylan Hartley, the hooker with the skill-set from heaven and the disciplinary record from hell who is widely expected to be confirmed as England’s new captain early next week, feared he had wrecked his international career for good when he was dropped from the red-rose squad for last year’s World Cup after the latest in a long line of run-ins with authority.

“I thought I might have played my last game for England,” the New Zealand-born front-rower admitted in an interview with the BBC. “What I have now is a chance to get back there and wear the white shirt at Twickenham again. I’m on eggshells, on tippy-toes, because I want to impress the new management, give a good account of myself and get in that team.”

Hartley missed the global gathering after being banned for illegal use of the head during the Premiership semi-final between Northampton and Saracens at Franklin’s Gardens last May. It was hardly the worst act of violence ever seen on a rugby field – less a butt than a gentle brush with the eyebrows – but thanks to a serious amount of previous, including gouging, biting and verbal abuse of a referee, he was given a four-week suspension that ruled him out of the opening World Cup game with Fiji.

Stuart Lancaster, the red-rose head coach at the time, felt he had no option but to demote the most troublesome of his senior forwards and replace him with the uncapped Jamie George, who, as coincidence would have it, was the aggrieved party in the incident that caused the reshuffle in the first place.

England’s opening Six Nations game, and their first under the new head coach, Eddie Jones, is against Scotland at Murrayfield in 15 days’ time, and the two hookers in contention for the starting place are… Hartley and George. While the latter is far and away the form No 2 in the country, the word from inside his own club is that he will have to make do with a seat on the bench. The bookmakers, meanwhile, have installed Hartley as the 11-8 favourite for the captaincy.

Jones wants the England pack to man up following a serious of conciliatory performances against international units they once bullied as a matter of course, and it may be that he sees Hartley as a “first out of the trenches” sort and therefore precisely the kind of leader the situation demands. But if decides to go with the 29-year-old, 66-cap forward from Rotorua as captain rather than stick with the Harlequins flanker Chris Robshaw or gamble on a younger man – the Wasps lock Joe Launchbury, for instance – he will be taking the first significant gamble of his stewardship.

To begin with, Hartley’s record is certain to go before him and may conceivably make it difficult for him to establish positive relationships with Test referees. It is also the case that he has precious little recent game time behind him. Hartley has made only five competitive starts this season, having picked up a nasty concussion in early November, and while his set-piece work was steady enough on his return to the first-choice Northampton front row against Glasgow last weekend, there was no sign of the fizzing energy he brings to the loose exchanges when performing at his best.

Jim Mallinder, the Midlanders’ rugby director, believes he will rediscover the best of himself given time, but the clock is not currently Hartley’s friend. The England squad members will gather at the team base in Surrey after completion of this weekend’s European club programme – Northampton face a must-win game in Wales against the Llanelli-based Scarlets on Saturday evening – and will not play again in anger until Calcutta Cup day.

At least Jones has a clear idea of the line-up he wants to field in Edinburgh. The Australian said last week that he would not decide on a captain until the 31-man party had been reduced to a 23-man match-day squad and then to a starting XV. As he intends to make a leadership announcement on Monday afternoon following discussions with a group of senior personnel, it appears he already knows his own mind.