This is supposed to be the year when the Six Nations Championship becomes safer and people receive fewer whacks to the head. It did not necessarily feel that way at the launch in south-west London, however, as Eddie Jones posed for publicity photos looking as if he had gone 12 rounds with his skipper Dylan Hartley. When even the England head coach is badly bruised before a ball has been kicked, heaven help the players.
According to Jones – or Roy Jones Jr as he is now being dubbed – his nasty swollen left eye was actually caused by a bathroom tumble rather than a big right hand from, say, Scotland’s Vern Cotter in the Hurlingham Club foyer. Either way it was a gallant effort to distract attention from Hartley, once again under the microscope as he prepares to return as England captain following his most recent high-profile club suspension.
From Hartley’s perspective this recurring plot-line is much ado about relatively little but when even your national coach is cracking public jokes about your disciplinary record – “He’s had 60 weeks off … he’s the world expert at it” – it is hardly fair to blame everything on the media. Where both the hooker and Jones are in full agreement, however, is that a clampdown on high and reckless tackles will make on-field discipline an absolutely crucial factor in this year’s competition.
Hartley, who has just completed a six-week ban for a swinging forearm smash to the head of Leinster’s Sean O’Brienlast month, reports he has been working hard on his tackle technique but accepts there is less margin for error for all, not just himself. “We are seeing a lot of incidents in games, more penalties and more cards and we have to adapt,” he acknowledged. “It is something I needed to clean up and I’ve given myself a good chance of not having that same issue again. But it is an ongoing thing and something I have to keep working on.”
In the England captain’s opinion it is a simple technical adjustment rather than a red mist issue but the management, regardless of last year’s grand slam and the team’s 14-match winning run, have left him in no doubt that further unfortunate episodes will not be tolerated. “I’ve had a clear directive from Eddie and the staff of what they expect. It is sobering and obviously you reflect on things when these things happen. This is a privileged position to be in … I’ve jeopardised that and put the team and myself in a sticky situation. All I can do is repay that faith with how I play. I truly believe this team is going in the direction where it is going to do great things.”
If Jones had any serious doubts he would surely not have reappointed Hartley as captain before next week’s opener against France, but every national coach knows one misjudgment could be decisive in a tournament growing ever more frantically competitive. The Australian, who plans to assess the fitness of James Haskell and Jack Clifford following the pair’s late arrival to the squad’s training camp in Portugal, compares the situation to a new, stricter road safety campaign and, while supportive of the broader aim, senses next month could be particularly tricky.
“It’s a distinct possibility there will be more cards in this championship,” predicted Jones. “Fourteen v 13 – that’s going to be a bit of fun. Plenty of space – that’s where the bonus points come in.
“It’s like when you put speed cameras in and hundreds of thousands of people get fined. There is going to be a proliferation of yellow and red cards until players learn to drive safely. And safely means within the speed limit. When that happens, like the roads, it becomes a safer place to play rugby and that’s what we want. We want kids to play rugby. We don’t want parents to be worried about the safety of their kids. It’s about the future of the game.”
Among those slightly apprehensive is the Wales head coach, Rob Howley, whose side commence their tournament with an awkward trip to Rome to play Italy. Howley is calling for referees to apply “common sense” and “empathy” and does not want the advent of bonus points to coincide with contests involving 13 players per side.
“I don’t think any of us in the room, or players and coaches, want to see Six Nations games being solved by red cards,” he stressed.
His captain, Alun Wyn Jones, also feels players have a responsibility to help referees out and “not scream for a yellow card when it’s actually a penalty.” It will be interesting to see how many sides heed his sage advice, particularly when Ireland and Scotland meet at Murrayfield. Conor Murray has already gone on the record accusing Glasgow players of deliberately trying to injure him this month but Cotter, in his final campaign as Scotland’s head coach, insists his squad will abide by the laws. “There’ll be pressure but it’ll all be done through the rules of the game,” he said.
To listen to Italy’s head coach, Conor O’Shea, promising a revitalised Azzurri effort – “We want opponents to feel this is a different Italy” – and Guy Novès explaining France’s desire to play a more modern game – “Thirty years have gone by, we can’t talk about French flair any more” – was to suspect the battered Jones is absolutely right to forecast a “cracking tournament.”
