Last year, the Wales coach, Warren Gatland, pledged not to antagonise opponents before big games. Tonight he effectively accused the England hooker Dylan Hartley of being a wimp, for backing away when invited to settle an on-field spat with a fight behind the stands.
Wales play England in Cardiff on 4 February, in the first match of the Six Nations Championship. Before the fixture two years ago Gatland accused England of being boring. This year, Wales have lost the Lions props Adam Jones and Gethin Jenkins and Gatland, knowing England will look to establish supremacy up front, has aimed his fire at England's New Zealand-born first-choice hooker.
"England have no choice but to take us on up front," said Gatland. "Their front row is not particularly mobile and nor is their back row. Their strength will be the scrums, a driving lineout and physicality. Their lineout imploded a bit against South Africa and a couple of weeks ago Dylan Hartley went to pieces at Leicester.
"Kiwis have been known to crack under pressure and choke. I hope [Hartley] does so a week on Friday. He always has a lot to say and he was responsible with some of his evidence for Richie Rees [the Cardiff Blues and Wales scrum-half] this month being banned for a long period. Hartley was not prepared to step outside to the back of the stand with Gareth Williams [the Blues hooker] when invited to do so and we will see how he fronts up against us."
The incidents involving Rees and Williams happened in two Heineken Cup matches between Northampton and the Blues last month. In the first, Hartley and Williams were sent to the sin-bin for fighting and continued to argue as they walked down the touchline. After the second, Rees was cited for gouging Hartley. He received a 12-week ban.
Gatland vowed to steer away from making provocative remarks after his observation that his Wales players hated their Irish counterparts more than any other nation backfired in 2009, but his team are in need of a strong start to the Six Nations after winning only two matches last year.
In targeting Hartley, who New Zealand felt should have been cited in November for elbowing their captain, Richie McCaw, Gatland is looking to ruffle England in an area where they will expect to be dominant, picking on their most temperamentally suspect player whose deputy, Steve Thompson, is less mobile. The England management declined to comment on Gatland's remarks, as did Northampton.
