England head coach Eddie Jones has called on his side to be daring when they open the defence of their Grand Slam Six Nations title against France next month, underlining the need for leaders of the stature of captain Dylan Hartley to show the way.
Jones has absolute trust in
Hartley as the man to set the right tone, bemoaning the fact that too many young players are mollycoddled or insular. He exempted the likes of George Ford and Owen Farrell from that critique but stressed that much-touted putative England captain Maro Itoje falls a long way short of that status at the moment.
Hartley is not afraid to upbraid players who step out of line or are not focused on the job.
"Dylan is a very unusual boy in that regard because young people don't like calling other people out," said Jones. "It is a skill we have to teach the players.
"A guy was telling me his son was 13 and in a football academy and he is told what to wear, when to brush his teeth, everything. He wants his son to buck the system but he can't because that's elite sport these days.
