A pretty brutal phone call.
Former England hooker and captain Dylan Hartley has opened up on the time Eddie Jones signalled the end of his international career over a phone call.
Hartley was installed as England captain when Eddie Jones took over as head coach following the disappointing 2015 Rugby World Cup.
The controversial hooker held the role for over two years in which England won a Grand Slam in 2016, a 3-0 series win over the Wallabies that summer and a Six Nations championship in 2017.
In Dylan Hartley’s soon-to-be-released book, The Hurt, he reveals the three words from Eddie Jones which ended his international career: “You’re fucked, mate!”
“Even by the standards of the 6am texts he delivers while running on the treadmill, which make the recipient’s balls tighten and the brain melt, this phone call was brutal…he was effectively ending my England career with three words.”
Hartley’s last appearance for England came in the 2018 Autumn internationals. A knee injury he suffered playing for Northampton soon after would signal the beginning of the end.
That game for Northampton took place in December 2018. He then made an unsuccessful attempt at recovering from that injury throughout the following year which resulted in his retirement in November 2019.
“I’d had enough of being governed by Eddie.”
Although Hartley admits that Jones is the best coach he has ever had, he believes the Australian was harder on him than any other player in the England squad.
“I was absolutely fucking bollocksed,” Hartley told the Telegraph.
‘That was fucking shit, mate. That’s fucking shit … you’re shit. You shouldn’t be here.’
“Anyone who looked even slightly out of shape had about as much chance of survival as a wildebeest wandering into a herd of lions. You were like a piece of meat, thrown in the bin because it was past its sell-by date. I’d had enough of being governed by Eddie.”
Hartley’s book, The Hurt, will be released on September 3rd.
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