Scotland vs England, Six Nations: Dylan Hartley says doubts about discipline only act as motivation

Ahead of his debut as England captain, the Northampton hooker faces down his many detractors

The England captain, Dylan Hartley, aims to be on his best behaviour when he leads his team against Scotland at Murrayfield in the Six Nations (Getty)

Dylan Hartley may not be the most paranoid England captain of recent times, but there are still moments when he thinks they are all out to get him. “Everyone wanting to see me muck up has made me prepare for this game in a good way,” he said before flying north for Saturday’s highly pressurised Calcutta Cup meeting with Scotland at Murrayfield. “And I am prepared. I’m pretty excited to be here.”

It was a brutally honest acknowledgement of the fact that his rise to the red-rose captaincy has not been welcomed by those sporting law-and-order hardliners who look at his long list of crimes and misdemeanours and struggle to imagine a player less suitable to fill a position of such responsibility. But Eddie Jones, the new head coach who took the decision to hand the honour to the Northampton hooker, is in no doubt as to Hartley’s rich potential as a leader of men.

“Actually, I don’t mean everyone,” Hartley continued, “but I just know it’s out there for whatever reason. It’s my fault, I guess: I’ve created this story. But all that stuff is not something I really look back on. And I don’t expect to be provoked by the Scots. I don’t get provoked any more. How do you provoke someone? You can’t do it these days, with everything pretty well covered by television and slow-motion cameras.”

Hartley will lead a team significantly more experienced, and significantly more stained by last year’s World Cup blowout on home soil, than many expected to see when Jones was swept into Twickenham before Christmas by a Rugby Football Union hierarchy in “new broom” mood. There will, as expected, be three uncapped players on the bench in Edinburgh – the Bath midfielder Ollie Devoto, the Northampton prop Paul Hill and the Harlequins back-rower Jack Clifford – but the coach made it abundantly clear that none of them would be sent on to the field for the sake of it.

Billy Vunipola will be one of England’s three vice-captains (Getty)

“Selection is about picking the best 23 for a game, and we feel this is the best 23 for this game,” the Australian remarked, in a prickly tone of voice. “Is it a cautious selection? You can describe it any way you want. Our mission is to go up there and win the Calcutta Cup.

“This is not about giving people opportunities, it’s about winning Test matches. The statistics show that you need around 560 caps to be Six Nations champions, so experience is always going to be important. We have 512 caps with three new people on the bench. That’s a fantastic place to be in at the start, I think.”

For the first time, England will have three designated vice-captains: the Harlequins full-back Mike Brown, the Saracens midfielder Owen Farrell and his clubmate, the No 8 Billy Vunipola. “When you’re looking for people to support your captain, you look for a variety of characters in a variety of positions,” Jones explained. “Billy is a young guy – he doesn’t even have a credit rating – but he’s a really key player for us. Owen is as tough as nails and a really good speaker. Mike is the quiet assassin, but very committed. I think they’ll work well together.”