Rugby: Hartley would be latest bad boy captain

Dylan Hartley could soon be appointed England captain. Photo / Getty

A parody of Australian cricket great Richie Benaud reckoned he was made captain because he played the piano and stood up when women entered a room.

Of course there was far more to Benaud's repertoire of leg-spinning, batting and captaincy before he turned his communication skills to leading the Channel 9 commentary team. There was never a whisper of bad behaviour hovering over the white, off-white, bone or ivory jacket.

Ice-hockey has a rep for picking men with short fuses as their captains in a code where few seem to have any other temperaments. Shayne Corson led the Oilers for 34 games in the mid 90's after a career of serial suspensions and off-field misdemeanours.

Approval ratings never favoured Michael Clarke in his days leading the Australian cricket team and he was even booed by the home crowd in 2010-11 on his way to the crease. Usually he was condemned for perceptions about his lifestyle rather than his leadership or test average which is a touch over 49.

Jerry Collins had a few social skirmishes and an individual approach to life when he was chosen to captain the All Blacks. The enforcer led the team into combat three times for stern taskmaster Graham Henry.

New England coach Eddie Jones may be adopting a similar theory with reports he wants to use Dylan Hartley as his captain when the Six Nations begins.

Hartley's suspensions total more than a year and he missed the last World Cup because his last ban for a head-butt took him out of the early stages of the event. The 29-year-old New Zealand-born hooker has been capped 66 times and that experience mixed with his ability, appeal to Jones as a package of potential he can mould.

Other rugby leaders who have carried form onto the field have been:

* Schalk Burger who was banned for eight weeks for eye-gouging Lions wing Luke Fitzgerald in 2009.

* French lock Pascal Pape who was banned for 10 weeks for kneeing Jamie Heaslip
* Italian skipper Sergio Parisse got eight weeks for eye-gouging Isaac Ross in Christchurch in 2009.

* Occasional Irish skip Heaslip who was sent off for kneeing Richie McCaw in 2010
* When Parisse was unavailable, Mauro Bergamasco led the team and he once received a 13 week ban for eye-gouging.

* Georgia's captain Mamuka Gorgodze is renowned for his power and indiscipline and his career is littered with yellow cards and suspensions.

Why not Hartley then as skipper of England?

Just think about some of the Super rugby sides in New Zealand who have turned to some villains or idiosyncratic players to lead their troops like Ali Williams at the Blues, Mils Muliaina at the Chiefs, Andrew Hore at the Hurricanes and now Dane Coles who is known to the law on and off the field.