Hartley relieved to get rewards
He may have been involved in the flashpoint of England's Six Nations win against Wales but Saints skipper Dylan Hartley admits he knew little about it.
Hooker Hartley was floored by a cynical Alun-Wyn Jones trip with just five minutes of the first half remaining and with the score deadlocked at 3-3 at Twickenham on Saturday.
Jones was subsequently sent to the sin-bin and, with Warren Gatland's men down to 14, England took advantage to record 17 points during their 10-minute power-play situation.
That huge haul included two tries, one from man-of-the-match James Haskell and another from scrum-half Danny Care, as well as two conversions and a penalty from the ever-accurate boot of Jonny Wilkinson.
That spell of ruthless rugby put Martin Johnson's side firmly in the driving seat.
But with Wales mounting a spirited second-half fightback, the points proved crucial in handing England a winning start to their 2010 Six Nations campaign.
"The trip?" said Hartley, when asked about the key incident. "I didn't even know it happened. I just thought I fell over.
"We got a penalty and I said 'what was that for?' and one of the boys said it was a trip. I think I'm just too heavy up top to be honest."
As well as taking part in the game's big talking point, Hartley quietly went about his lineout duties with immense precision and ultimately huge success.
The Franklin's Gardens ace had a 100 per cent ratio of set-pieces won to his name and his showing was made all the more impressive by the inadequacies in the Welsh game.
Hartley added: "I can't really comment on theirs, but I know we've worked really hard on our defensive lineouts throughout the week and we got some rewards from that.
"We took a lot of momentum out of their game by disrupting their
set-piece and we worked as hard on that as we did on our ball.
"It was rewarding to work on something during the week and see it working at the weekend. It's really positive."
Hartley is now hoping for a repeat performance with Italy next up at the Stadio Flaminio on Sunday.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Kettering
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: -8 C to -1 C
Wind Speed: 3 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North west
