As England’s second most capped player of all time, Dylan Hartley has constantly proved he has a unique resilience to both stay at the top, and come back from times of adversity. A perfect corporate speaker.
Moving to the UK from New Zealand on his own aged 16-year-old to embark on a his rugby dream, Dylan quickly rose through the England ranks, ending up at Northampton Saints in 2005. The one club man was made Captain and went on to lead the Club during the most successful period in their history, spearheading a pack that dominated across the Premiership and rest of Europe.
Hartley helped Northampton to an immediate promotion back to the Premiership, before an incredible run that saw them win the Premiership title, two European Challenge Cups, and an Anglo-Welsh Cup, as well as reaching separate Premiership and Heineken Cup finals.
Hartley’s performances at Saints earned him deserved international recognition, with his first Test start coming at Old Trafford in 2009 where England played Argentina.
Since then Dylan has racked up almost a century of caps, winning three Six Nations titles including the Grand Slam in 2016, three months after he was appointed Captain.
After that successful campaign, Hartley led England to an historic 3-0 Test series victory over Australia, before captaining a successful defence of their Championship title and a series win over Argentina the following year.