DYLAN HARTLEY will be confirmed as England’s Six Nations captain on Wednesday.
Hooker Hartley and boss Eddie Jones flew home from the Red Rose training camp in Portugal last night for the official launch of the tournament.
Bad-boy Hartley has not played for more than six weeks after being banned for clotheslining Sean O’Brien last month — but Jones has stuck by him.
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Jones has also been boosted by George Kruis declaring himself fit to face France a week on Saturday after recovering from a broken cheekbone.
Kruis said: “It’s realistic I’ll be up for France. Sometimes you need some players who are fresh.
“We’re hungrier this time around — we want to be the No 1 team in the world.”
Flanker James Haskell hopes he can still feature in England’s Grand Slam defence after seeing a specialist yesterday.
The Wasps forward has not joined up with the squad in the Algarve following a recurrence of a foot injury that has kept him out for seven months.
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As Jones is on the brink of naming his skipper, the England head coach has previously confessed the England team is lacking leaders.
He said: “There’s not many.
“Being a leader means every day you rock up to training, rock up to a meeting and you get on with the job.
“If the guy next to you is not doing it properly, you tell him. And you tell him how to do it.
“When we’ve got ten players like that, we’ll be in a position to win the World Cup.”
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