England captain, Six Nations winner, and one of rugby's most combative hookers
RugbyDylan Hartley captained England more often than any man apart from Will Carling. That is the sort of statistic that says everything about how much his players trusted him and very little about how much easier his career was than it looked.
Born in Rotorua and raised in England, Hartley won 97 caps, captained the national side 30 times, and led England to back-to-back Six Nations titles in 2016 and 2017, including a Grand Slam in Eddie Jones's first season in charge. At club level he was the figurehead of Northampton Saints' most successful era, captaining them to the Premiership title in 2014 and to a host of European nights that remain folklore at Franklin's Gardens.
His career was never without drama. The disciplinary record is part of the story and Hartley is disarmingly honest about it. But underneath the headlines was a hooker whose set-piece work, leadership and sheer stubbornness his team-mates repeatedly picked out as irreplaceable. His book The Hurt, published after a neck injury ended his playing career early, is one of the most candid accounts of what modern professional rugby takes out of its best players.
Today Hartley works in business, broadcasting and speaking, and is regularly on the after-dinner circuit in the City. Direct, self-deprecating and impossible to dislike once you have met him, he is a reminder that the hardest men on a rugby pitch are often the most articulate off it.
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