Rugby: Rotorua links to tourists

Rotorua-born Dylan Hartley is the premier England hooker. Photo / Getty Images

England Hooker Dylan Hartley had four points of interest when England played the All Blacks at Twickenham this morning - his old school chums Tom Donnelly, Mike Delany and Liam Messam and the haka.

Hardly surprising as Hartley didn't leave Rotorua for England until he was 16.

Three of the All Black tour squad - Delany, Donnelly and flanker Messam - went to Kaharoa school and Rotorua Boys' High which, as Hartley points out, is quite something.

"Donnelly and Delany were just about to leave [high school] when I arrived, but I knew Liam pretty well," he says. "If any of us were going to make the All Blacks, he was. When I was playing for the school, he was off round the world with the New Zealand sevens team. He had all the flash kit, the suntan, everything - damn him."

But he says his New Zealand heritage, while undeniable, was also a long time ago.

"People keep asking me about my New Zealand rugby upbringing, but basically, it was a game I played at school," he insists. "I can't comment about the All Black mindset or anything like that because I don't know. I haven't lived there since I was 16."

Neither Messam nor Delany were involved this morning, but Donnelly was out there doing the haka. How did Hartley think he'd react?

"I understand it, I respect it and it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up," he replies. "But I can't allow myself to be distracted just because it's the All Blacks. That's when a player can go off-track and do stupid things. I've worked hard to tighten up my game in the areas that needed tightening, and that's what I'll concentrate on."

Part of that tightening will be in the scrums where Hartley said the English did well against Argentina last week.

"Everyone thought we were going to be bullied by the Argentines," he says, grinning from ear to ear. "But we weren't bullied, were we? We won 80 per cent of the hits against a scrum rated the best in the world. I bet none of you saw that statistic coming."

At 23, the Northampton hooker is a pup in front-row terms, but runs the England scrum - a complex business involving timing, angles and the precise application of collective force that makes Jonny Wilkinson's dabblings in quantum physics seem child's play.

So when Hartley's direct opponent, the granite-faced Mario Ledesma, popped out of the first set piece and was penalised into the bargain, it was a moment to savour.

"When the referee reached the end of his 'crouch, touch, pause, engage' routine, Ledesma wasn't happy and didn't do the last bit," Hartley recalls. "Unfortunately for him, his props did. I thought 'bugger it, let's get in there anyway'. He's a tough old boy but we did well there. It gave me a lot of confidence, winning the first decision against him."

Born in Rotorua, Hartley considers himself a reformed character. When a six-month ban for gouging in 2007 cost him a place in Brian Ashton's squad for the World Cup, the penny dropped immediately.

Since returning to first-team rugby at Northampton, he has toned down, to the extent that Jim Mallinder, his director of rugby at Franklin's Gardens, appointed him captain.

"Ever since that business back in '07 I've been a different player," Hartley says, "but not everyone believed me when I said I'd got that stuff out of my system. It's why I was so grateful to be awarded the captaincy, because by playing with such responsibility on my shoulders every week, I think I've proved to everyone that I've changed. I play hard, but fair: that's my mentality."

- INDEPENDENT