Dylan Hartley’s hopes of pressing his case for a return to the England side for the Six Nations campaign have been dealt a significant blow after he was named on the bench again for Saturday’s East Midlands derby between Leicester and Northampton.
Eddie Jones, the England head coach, had been due to attend Saturday’s game between Harlequins and Premiership leaders Saracens at the Stoop, but changed his schedule on Friday to be at Welford Road instead.
Jones’s attendance would have given Hartley the opportunity to go head to head against England’s incumbent hooker, Tom Youngs, but instead the Northampton forward will be limited to a possible cameo from the bench, with Mike Haywood retaining his place in the Saints’ starting XV.
Jones, who is thought to have identified Hartley as a potential replacement for Chris Robshaw as England captain, is due to name his Elite Player Squad on Wednesday.
Eddie Jones will be at the Leicester vs Northampton match
Hartley is certain to be included in the squad, having been overlooked for the World Cup because of a four-week suspension that would have ruled him out of England’s opening game against Fiji, but is now running out of time to start a game ahead of Jones’s announcement of his captain for the Six Nations.
Having recovered from a lengthy spell of concussion, Hartley was drafted straight into the starting XV for the Boxing Day defeat at London Irish but has since been demoted to a spot among the replacements.
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Hartley remains England’s most capped forward available to Jones but will almost certainly have to start for Northampton in their final two Champions’ Cup pool matches if he is to prove his fitness and form.
Hartley’s frustrations will be aggravated by the fact that Youngs, who was England’s starting hooker during the World Cup, will be captaining Leicester in front of Jones on Saturday, while Jamie George, the in-form Saracens hooker, also starts against Quins.
England's incumbent hooker, Tom Youngs will start for Leicester
Jones will also be able to cast his eye over Tom Wood, the England flanker who features for Northampton for the first time since damaging his shoulder against Gloucester on Nov 27 and joins Hartley on the bench.
Also of interest to Jones will be the performance of Leicester prop Dan Cole, who, alongside Youngs, is restored to the front row following last Saturday’s set-piece problems against Saracens.
Saints’ Kieran Brookes was shaping up to be England’s preferred tighthead for the Six Nations until he injured a knee, so Cole is back and eager to atone for his role in a difficult day for the Leicester scrum last weekend.
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Richard Cockerill, the Leicester director of rugby, said: “Dan has been good for us this season. His work around the field is phenomenal. There’s a lot more to Cole than just set-piece. But there’s no point being a really good prop who doesn’t scrummage.
“Form can drift a little bit and he’s not scrummaging as well as he can do, but he has a pretty good forum to deal with that on Saturday and he’s a quality player and his form will get better.
“I don’t think he’s far off his best – if you watched him against Munster home and away last month he was outstanding around the field and at the set-piece. Our set-piece won us the game at Munster.
Steve Borthwick will be at the Stoop for the Harlequins vs Saracens clash
“There’s a lot to like about Dan, the same with Tom Youngs. Everyone focuses on the odd bad throw from Tom, but he’s been outstanding in every department. When those two make errors it appears to be magnified for some reason.”
England’s new forwards coach, Steve Borthwick, meanwhile, will be at the Stoop, with Jack Clifford, a contender at openside, going head-to-head against Will Fraser.
In other intriguing battles this weekend, Chris Ashton will face Marland Yarde, Mike Brown will have a personal duel with Alex Goode and the respective loosehead performances of Joe Marler and Mako Vunipola will also interest Borthwick.
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