Dylan Hartley saves reaction for the pitch – England v Wales
Dylan Hartley, the English hooker admitted that he has depleted ten days stewing over the public attack by Warren Gatland prior to Six Nations 2011 opening match. The Welsh coach made a few dubious moves including the one of firing Hartley by trade marking
him as a choker and questioned his disposition on the main events.
The verbal cutting remarks are reckoned to be a clever move by few critics and think Gatland is forcing Hartley to lose his patience and discipline during the match, where England will face Wales in Millennium Stadium. Hartley’s coach and team mates urged
him to take these remarks as a motivation and to negate all of Gatland’s intentions.
Hartley commented, “If anything it's given me ten days to really prepare myself and ten days to really motivate myself. The motivation is there already, it's a big enough game and I want to do well in an England shirt.”
All these comments and remarks said against Hartley, mostly to force him to do something irrelevant, have given him time to prepare himself. He believes that it was unexpected but he has to deal with it anyways. He added, “It's just given me time to prepare
and look forward to a big one on Friday.”
So far the disciplinary record of Hartley has a bad repute. Though, it’s been long since any major incident took place. His temperament was tested and he retaliated in an incident in 2007, for which he got banned for 6 months. He was found accountable of
gouging James Haskell two times during a club fixture.
All Blacks got furious in November when Hartley found a worm hole and escaped a sanction for a forearm confrontation on New Zealand’s captain, Richie McCaw. Hartley was sent to sin bin during a Northampton Saints’ match in Heineken Cup encounter against
Cardiff Blues in January for skirmishing with Gareth Williams, his opposite number.
Hartley believes he is composed and in control of his outburst of aggressive emotions. Though he has been scandalized a lot, but this is probably the first time when a major rugby figure has spoken against him and commented harshly. Hartley told that he
will give replies to all such comments on field through his game and not through his temper. So far he has been dealing with this quite decently and didn’t reply back to Gatland childishly. He said, “Its ten days warning of what's to come. I've dealt with
it before, people coming after me. Cardiff is a physical team who threw the kitchen sink at me and I'll be prepared for the same again.”
This kitchen sink example has been famous in the news and is being reported in every England-Wales update as a highlight. Gatland also commented on Hartley’s weak performance in against Leicester Tigers in Northampton Saints’ Aviva Premiership defeat. He
used the words, “Fell Apart” referring to Hartley.
Replying to this comment Hartley said, “You certainly don't turn into a bad player overnight. It was just a blip for me. Things have gone well since then. I had a 90 per cent against Castres the next week.”
As soon as the England Wales fixture is getting close, the more excitement and suspense is growing. Pressure is equal on both the teams and observing this cold war turning into a hot media scuffle, has increased the anticipation. Ball is now in both the
courts for the first time and an amateur reply would cost a lot, while a good display of rugby at Millennium Stadium Cardiff will boost the winning side’s morale and repute.
Tags: