Will co-captains lead to co-ckups? Eddie Jones was asked the question – though not in so many words – after announcing that Dylan Hartley and Owen Farrell will be England’s joint leaders until the end of the side’s involvement in the World Cup next year.
Co-captains have become common in recent seasons: Jones put Chris Robshaw and George Ford in charge last year when England played the Barbarians at Twickenham but neither was considered a potential successor to Hartley, which made it easier for Jones to follow a path he has been reluctant to take.
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He likes to be innovative, such as renaming his replacements as finishers, polishing their role so that they do not feel like nonstarters, but he has preferred to have one leader until now. He was insistent that it was only a temporary measure and that no one would step up were one of Hartley or Farrell unavailable.
He was confident there would be no blurring of responsibility and that the two voices would not be discordant. The inference was that things will continue as they have been, with Hartley leading the side, grooming Farrell to succeed him, whenever that might be.
It is only now that Jones has been confident that Hartley will make it to the World Cup next year, when the hooker will be 33. A combination of injuries, especially concussions, age and the challenge of Jamie George meant the lease on Hartley’s jersey had to be renewed regularly.
Hartley’s absence was felt in South Africa last summer, not just in terms of his leadership, and he has survived the generational cull that has left players such as James Haskell and Dan Cole on the outside. George is the more conspicuous hooker, often seen on the gallop, but Hartley showed in the recent east Midlands derby at Twickenham that his competitive edge remains sharp.
Never mind the co-captaincy, he will be in charge when he plays and the key decisions will be his. Jones may ration his appearances in the coming year, with the World Cup in mind and to give Farrell more captaincy experience: one aspect he has to learn from Hartley is how to engage referees, which he struggled to do in South Africa, hectoring them rather than cajoling.
Captaincy is a one-person job. It’s hard to imagine Martin Johnson, Buck Shelford, Sean Fitzpatrick or John Smit allowing someone else to share the wheel. England crashed out of the 2015 World Cup after first making a call that did not work to go for a lineout rather than a penalty that would have drawn the match against Wales and then some players lost their composure after edging back into contention against Australia.
It was that defeat that prompted the search that resulted in Jones leaving the Stormers in South Africa almost before he arrived. He faces going into the four internationals at Twickenham next month under pressure to keep his job after three successive defeats in the Six Nations were followed by two in South Africa but an injury toll that has cost him half his pack and some of the backups makes it hard for the Rugby Football Union to sack him, should it be so tempted.
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In victory, coaches can pretty much do what they want; in defeat, they are far more accountable. Jones succeeded in hiring John Mitchell as his defence coach for the next year but some at Twickenham baulked at paying the £200,000 release fee from the Bulls considering the 2003 World Cup All Blacks head coach had not been at the sharp end for a number of years and was not someone Jones had worked with before.
Nor did he have a track record as a defence coach. Mitchell will push Jones, as Jones gave momentum to South Africa’s Jake White in the 2007 World Cup, an experienced voice who will not be afraid to say what he thinks.
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