It’s a bold move, but Eddie Jones doesn’t do things any other way.
Dylan Hartley’s role in the England team has been the subject of a lot of printer ink since his red card and deserved six-week ban for a dangerous tackle on Sean O’Brien in Leinster’s Champions Cup win against Northampton in December.
Some backed Hartley to remain as captain, others said he’d let himself down one too many times, while others were calling for him to be left out of the squad altogether.
Eddie Jones has been coy in recent weeks about who his captain would be, and he chose the very public settling of the Six Nations launch to back his man.
The manner in which he did it was – from an English point of view – perfect. He played it all down, even joking that Hartley’s tackling technique will have improved from all the time off he’s had to perfect it.
As for the player, he knows he’s now on very thin ice.
While Eddie Jones’ handling of the situation will ease a lot of the tension in England, it’ll also ruffle the feathers of his opponents, particularly in Ireland, where Hartley has been getting some particular fierce criticism.
Jones' jokes at this afternoon's Six Nations launch might have seemed a bit brash, but it's not a surprise to see Hartley retaining the captaincy. Jones has always backed his men, and we only have to go back to last year’s incident involving Mike Brown and Conor Murray to know that the Australian is fiercely loyal to his players.
If the shoe was on the other foot, we’d be expecting our coach to back his man too.
Time to concentrate on the rugby.
