Dylan Hartley hopes regaining Northampton captaincy will see him remain as England skipper

Under the 31-year-old, England have only lost one in 20 games

Hartley could be replaced at hooker by Jamie George (Getty)

Dylan Hartley hopes regaining the Northampton Saints captaincy will boost his chances of remaining England’s leader-in-chief amid Eddie Jones’ constant threat to remove him as skipper.

Under Hartley’s guidance, England have won 20 of their 21 matches – including the world record-equalling 18-match winning streak – but Jones has always said that Hartley will be replaced as captain if a more suitable candidate emerges or he no longer warrants a place in the starting line-up.

That message was reiterated by the England head coach ahead of this month’s three-day training camp in Teddington, and after Jamie George’s impressive form on the British and Irish Lions tour in the summer, Hartley knows his place is under threat.

However, there is also a job to do at Northampton, with the Saints struggling in recent years since their Premiership title triumph in 2014, and Hartley hopes that returning as captain at Franklin’s Gardens following a two-year hiatus will help keep him sharp for international duty.

“It’s a good challenge for me and a good challenge for the club,” Hartley said at the Premiership Rugby launch. “The only way is up for us [Northampton], obviously finishing seventh is not ideal by our standards, but it’s quite a nice place to be in terms of looking for improvement. We can only look up.”

Jones has been eager to increase his core of leaders within the England squad, having named Owen Farrell, Billy Vunipola and Mike Brown as vice-captains last season, as well as former captain Chris Robshaw and fly-half George Ford in the summer before Hartley returned for the tour of Argentina.

The 31-year-old hooker believes that captaining Northampton will help keep him mentally sharp for the season ahead as well as ease the crossover between leading a side out in front of 15,000 fans at the Gardens and 82,000 at Twickenham, though he was keen to stress that leading England in this autumn’s internationals against Australia, Argentina and Samoa is no given.

“That’s not guaranteed,” he added. “I thought one way of trying to make those chances greater is to be doing it for my club week-in, week-out. Practicing captaincy is a skill and leading my club well will give me a good chance of captaining England and leading England again.

Dylan Hartley with his team mates following victory during the ICBC Cup match between Argentina and England at Estadio Brigadier General Estanislao Lopez on on 17 June (Getty Images)

“Six Nations’ come around, autumns’ come around and all of a sudden you go into captain mode. I’d rather do it week-in, week-out and I’ll learn more about myself or I can try things and just learn new things so it’s not a big transition when I go into camp, it’s something I’m doing week-in, week-out. Things like speaking to refs, dealing with refs, communicating, understanding game management and stuff should be things I’m doing week to week, so that was a big draw to doing it again.

“The expectation is the same, Northampton expects just like England does, but then they’re just rewarding jobs when done well. Hard work but enjoyable.”

If Hartley can start the season off as he finished it in Argentina, the smart money will be on the Saint leading England out once again come November. However, there’s no looking beyond the fact that while he was happy to lead a young side to South America in the summer, he would’ve have preferred to have been back in the country of his birth.

Hartley missed out on a place in the Lions squad by a whisker, with George selected by Warren Gatland – along with Ken Owens and Rory Best – even though he is yet to start a Test match for his country.

But he did see enough in the later Tests against the All Blacks, particularly the second, to know that the reigning world champions are beatable, and with 14 Lions returning from New Zealand to pass on their experience Hartley believes the national team will only benefit in their quest to become the world’s best team.

Dylan Hartley missed out on a British and Irish Lions call-up (Getty)

“The Lions did a fantastic job and they showed that New Zealand are the best, they’re No1 and they’re there for a reason but, with the series being a draw, it showed that they are beatable. For us as a No 2 team, chasing, wanting to the best, to be No1, it just showed us there is an in there. They can be beaten.

“Just watching our lads playing, wow many did we have? We had a lot – Hask [James Haskell] turned up and did the social media!

“The biggest win was having that many players on that tour, playing with the other guys, learning about the other nations and ultimately learning about playing New Zealand. The England team will benefit massively from that experience.”

But with no match against the All Blacks scheduled until 2018, Hartley won’t be taking his eye off the ball. “We’re playing Australia, Argentina and Samoa,” he added. “We’ll focus on them.”