"Challenge him on that" - Dylan Hartley doesn't agree with Luther Burrell comments
Rugby NewsSaturday, 02 July 2022 at 13:59
Former England and Northampton captain Dylan Hartley has disagreed with former teammate Luther Burrell, stating that he doesn't believe racism is 'rife' in rugby union.
In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Burrell - who has played for clubs including Leeds, Sale, Northampton and Newcastle, plus Warrington in rugby league - spoke about dressing room “racial banter” that has “become normal” and “needs to be addressed”.
Hartley, who captained Burrell for club and country for almost a decade, categorically denied that any racism was present in either dressing room that he led.
Speaking on Sky Sports, he said: "I'd want to challenge the word rife. Does it go on? Potentially.
"In the environments I've been involved with Luther; nothing happened at Northampton and I can assure you nothing happened with England.
"I can't speak for Luther's experiences at other clubs and other environments. It's a tricky subject."
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Marmite rugby players! One player for each home nation
Scroll through the gallery below to find out who has been selected.
Dan Biggar (Wales)
Biggar is the epitome of players you hate until they are on your team.The way the fly-half continues to moan to referees vociferously has seemingly only got worse throughout his career. It got so bad that popular online personality and diehard Scotland fan Glove39 made a video called ‘birdman’ mocking the way in which he always raises his arms in frustration to officials.
Peter O'Mahony (Ireland)
A flanker that plays on the edge and never fails to get under the skin of opposition fans. His late hit on Stuart Hogg and foul-mouthed war of words with the Kyle Sinckler during the 2019 Six Nations did him no favours. The sort of player you love to have, but also love to hate.
Owen Farrell (England)
Could it be anybody else? Farrell fits the label “our guy” better than most, meaning you love to hate him unless he’s in your squad. Then you’d go to the end’s of the earth to defend him. The England captain, also known as 'Shoulder boy' for his high tackling, does himself no favours with his poor tackling technique.
Finn Russell (Scotland)
People seem to think he's the best player on the planet or an overrated showpony. There really isn't much of a middle-ground when it comes to the mercurial Scottish number 10.
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- Jordie Barrett over Damian de Allende is far from being correct. The hype around Dupont is also overreaching, he's probably 4th in the world and has been since the 2023 WC. He also avoids certain matchups which is strange. The rest of the list is pretty good apart from minor subjective biases.JasonMarlow16-09-2026
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