Captain Dylan Hartley insists England can beat Australia on summer tour - Ruck

Captain Dylan Hartley insists England can beat Australia on summer tour

  • Dylan Hartley insists England can topple Australia on their summer tour this month
  • The Grand Slam champions play Tests in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney against a Wallabies
  • Australia has been revived under the guidance of Michael Cheika, a friend and former club teammate of Red Rose boss Eddie Jones
Captain Dylan Hartley insists England can secure a series victory in Australia after an impressive period for Eddie Jones’ men since their dismal Rugby World Cup showing.

“Why can’t we win the series? What’s the point in going if we don’t want to win it?” the captain said.

“We’ve never won so it’s a huge opportunity for us. I don’t think there’s any harm in saying we want to win the series, because what’s the point in touring otherwise.

“This isn’t just a make up the numbers game at the end of the season, we want to go down and challenge them.”



“It was good to be back and good to be continuing our run. The first 20 minutes gave us a bit of a shock,” Hartley said.

“It was quite fast paced. You like to control the opening exchanges, but when you’re 10-0 down you have to reassess a few things.

“We finished the game on a high note with a set piece focus. The young guys coming off the bench, earning first caps, really closed the game out. They did a good job.



“The strength in depth we have is brilliant and we showed that against a star-studded Welsh team. There was a perception that we had a weakened team, but I was confident we could win.

“It was the first of four games for us and we’re keen to go and make some history in Australia. It’s an opportunity.

“Beating Wales keeps us in fourth place in the rankings, with Australia at number two. We want to be in the top one or two in the world.

“History tells us we’ve never won a series out in Australia so that’s a big carrot for us.”