Eddie Jones and Dylan Hartley. Photo/Photosport
Kiwi Dylan Hartley has revealed the heartless way Eddie Jones told him he was out of England's World Cup campaign.
He also further lifted the lid on the obsessive coaching style of Jones, the England coach lauded for masterminding a stunning defeat of the All Blacks in last year's World Cup semifinal.
And Hartley has voiced his concerns about the direction of the game, saying players from his generation have been treated like "crash dummies".
Hartley, a captain under Jones, was forced out of contention for the tournament in Japan by a knee injury which has led to his retirement.
Hartley described the England camp as prison-like although he believes Jones was only doing what he had to do, and that the Jones-method worked.
But he told the Daily Telegraph that Australian Jones treated him "like a piece of meat, thrown in the bin because it was past its sell-by date."
"I'd had enough of being governed by Eddie," Hartley said.
Having tried to prove his fitness, Hartley says Jones told him: "You're f***** mate."
Hartley said: "Even by the standards of the 6am texts he delivers while running on the treadmill, which make the recipient's balls tighten and the brain melt, this phone call was brutal. He was effectively ending my England career with three words."
Hartley told the Telegraph that Jones was the best coach he had dealt with, but Hartley barred his family from turning up at the England camp because "it would have felt like a prison visit".
Hartley said: "Anyone who looked even slightly out of shape had about as much chance of survival as a wildebeest wandering into a herd of lions.
"By match day I was absolutely f****** knackered.
"If I'm honest it was just turning up, wanting to get through the game and win so I could have a nice week, an easier week with Eddie."
But it was Hartley's comments about the brutal nature of the game itself which may be of greater long term significance.
"My generation of players have been crash dummies for a sport in transition from semi-professionalism," he said.
"It's being reshaped, subtly but relentlessly, by money men, geo-politicians, talking heads and television executives. They treat us as warm bodies, human widgets.
"It would be wrong to attempt to skirt the unavoidable truth that as players become bigger, faster and stronger they will be chewed up and spat out quicker."
The controversial Hartley played 97 tests for England over 16 years, but missed just over a year through suspensions.
He also missed 1,320 days through injuries, including bone breaks, ligament tears, snapped tendons, popped ribs, nerve damage and bulging discs.
The Telegraph reported his body is so damaged that he can't jump on a trampoline with his four-year-old daughter.
He had three concussions late in his career and said he sometimes drops objects, muddles his words and gets dizzy easily.
"I try to enjoy what's happening now, but it's always a concern," he says of long term brain injury concerns.
And his wife Jo told the Telegraph: "It was awful. I couldn't watch sometimes."
Her post-match tasks included using surgical glue to put his ears back in place and draining them with a needle.
She is investigating nutritional remedies as she tries to "put him back together".