Dylan Hartley haunted by Dublin downer

England v France

Dylan Hartley’s memories of England’s only RBS 6 Nations success this decade are tainted to the point he does not feel like a title winner.

Only five survivors remain from the team crowned champions in a Dublin hotel four years ago, just hours after the Grand Slam had been snatched away with a 24-8 rout by Ireland.

The celebrations were muted as the euphoria of a precious moment of triumph was overwhelmed by the frustration at having been put to the sword at Lansdowne Road.

While the Grand Slam has eluded England once more — Ireland saw to that in emphatic fashion three weeks ago — Hartley insists lifting the trophy after toppling France at Twickenham today would balm the spirit.

“If you ask me if I have won the Six Nations, I don’t feel like I have. My medal is in a box at home somewhere,” the Northampton hooker said.

“At the time it felt flat. Maybe until the day we do the Grand Slam it probably won’t feel the same either. There is always that feeling hanging over.

“Dublin didn’t feel like any kind of victory. We couldn’t even come away saying that we’d played well. It was disappointing and just a bad day all round.

“We won the title a few years ago in Dublin, but doing it at home on Saturday would be lovely.

“It’s about timing as well — this team needs to win something before the World Cup and we’ve put that pressure on ourselves. From the outset we said we wanted to win it. I don’t think there’s any shame saying that.”

Favourites England enter the climactic day of the Six Nations with a points advantage of plus four, but it is only once the results from Wales’ visit to Italy and Ireland’s trip to Scotland are known that the true target at Twickenham will become clear.

“We’ve already had the disappointment of missing out on the Grand Slam but our fate is kind of in our hands,” Hartley said.

“When people talk about scoring lots of points, they confuse that with people like Jonathan Joseph having lots of the ball with all the sidesteps, breaks and no-look passes.

“In reality it’s all about pressure and playing the ball in the right parts of the field and applying pressure to the French.

“If I was the French coming to this game I’d be thinking about how England want to score all these points and perhaps make it a set-piece game and slow it down.”

Hartley insists the moments before the culmination of a gruelling seven-week campaign will be notable more for clarity of the final orders than any need to crank up aggression levels for the renewal of ferocious rivalry.

“Gone are the days of head-banging and punching holes in walls. James Haskell does a bit of shadow-boxing in the corner and I saw him crush a paper cup one time as well (mass guffaw),” Hartley said.

“Sport and rugby nowadays is so analytical. It is broken down to clear messages. That is the last time it will be nice and calm. When you get out, there are anthems, a game, refs, collisions, fights, there is everything so that is the last time to get clear and concise messages across. It is quite calm in the changing room.”

Meanwhile Thierry Dusautoir insists France’s fierce rivalry with England will underpin their desire to ruin any Twickenham title celebrations on Saturday.

“You call it ’Le Crunch’,” Dusautoir said. “There’s a reason for that and that’s because of the rivalry between the teams and countries when it comes to sport.

“Personally, I’ve never won at Twickenham. It would be a great achievement that for this team. England are playing really good rugby and it would be nice to beat them at Twickenham.”