CHIT
CHAT
Sport provokes debate and
here is some of the interaction
between our readers and
writers at thetimes.co.ukComments by Exeter Chiefs’
director of rugby, Rob Baxter,
calling for “balance” in the
way clubs address the Black
Lives Matter movement led to
debate among our readersBlack lives matter just as much
as all lives. However, sport is a
powerful tool for unity and
inclusion. It is also provides a
platform for symbolism. If
players have decided to “bend
the knee” to support this
ideology, then I’m OK with that.
Barry SamsonThe pressure to conform
is frightening. It reminds
me of what happens in
dictatorships, and that is
not making too strong a
point of it.
Keith SmithI agree with Rob Baxter. Two
minutes silence a year for all
the sacrifice of two world wars
and subsequent conflicts and
every week for BLM.
Something’s very wrong.
E SpringerAm I the only one who is
heartily sick of the virtue
signalling that seems to
be taking over the
world?
Geoff KerrisonThere’s an awful lot of middle-
class faux outrage. I’m guessing
the majority of contributors are
in their 40s and white (like
myself). What is everyone so
afraid of?
HeartsandmindsI was so miffed at the
political display in F1 that
after a love affair with F
of over 60 years, I
haven’t bothered to
watch any more races.
Harry KatzSport
the times | Saturday August 15 2020 2GS 15
Dylan Hartley has revealed how Eddie
Jones ended his England career with
three brutal words and made him feel
like “a piece of meat past its sell-by
date”.
Appointed captain by Jones in early
2016, Hartley led England to the grand
slam that year, a 3-0 series victory over
Australia and the 2017 Six Nations title.
The 34-year-old, England’s third-
most-capped player, with 97, was
battling a knee injury in the build-up to
last year’s World Cup and desperate for
more time to prove his fitness when
Jones gave it to him straight.
“You’re f****d, mate,” the England
coach told him over the phone. “Even
by the standards of the 6am texts he
delivers while running on the treadmill,
which make the recipient’s balls tighten
Bob Willis Trophy: day one of four (all
from 11.0): Central Glamorgan v
Gloucestershire; Northamptonshire
v Worcestershire; Warwickshire v
Somerset. North: Durham v
Leicestershire; Lancashire v
Nottinghamshire; Yorkshire v
Derbyshire. South: Hampshire v
Surrey; Kent v Middlesex; Sussex v
Essex.Golf
The Celtic Manor Resort, Newport:
Celtic Classic (third round).
The Renaissance Club, North
Berwick, Scotland: Aberdeen
Standard Investments Ladies
Scottish Open (third round).Rugby union
Gallagher Premiership: Worcester
Warriors v Gloucester (12.30);
Exeter Chiefs v Leicester Tigers
(2.0); Bath v London Irish (3.0);
Bristol Bears v Saracens (4.30).Snooker
Betfred World Championship final:
Crucible Theatre, Sheffield: (Best of
35 frames, all England): K Wilson v R
O’Sullivan/M Selby.Football
Champions League quarter-final,
Lisbon: Man City v Lyons (8.0).
Scottish Premiership: (3.0 unless
stated): Hamilton v St Mirren;
Kilmarnock v St Johnstone; Ross
County v Dundee Utd; Hibernian v
Motherwell (5.30).Cricket
Ageas Bowl, Southampton: Second
Test, England v Pakistan (day three
of five).Tennis
UK Pro Series, Classic Week: T Hands
bt B Harris 6-3, 6-2; L Broady bt D Cox
6-3, 1-6, 10-5; R Peniston bt L
Johnson 6-0, 7-5; J Ward bt H Patten
6-3, 7-5; A Gray bt M Whitehouse
6-2, 6-2. J Cash bt A Fery 3-6, 7-6 (7-
4) 14-12. E Raducanu bt S B Grey 6-
(4-7), 6-2, 10-3; S Kartal bt F Christie
6-4, 7-5; J Burrage bt N Rawson 6-2,
6-3; E Appleton bt E Maloney 6-1, 6-2;
E Silva bt N Broady 6-1, 3-6, 10-2; H
Dart bt E Arbuthnott 6-1, 6-3.‘Three brutal words ended my career’
and the brain melt, this phone call was
brutal,” Hartley wrote in his new book.
“He was effectively ending my England
career with three words.”
Hartley says he is full of respect for
Jones, describing him as the best coach
he played for. “He didn’t revive my
career. He gave me a career. I had
a shit career before that,” he
said.
However, it came at a
cost. By the time Har-
tley’s England career
ended, Jones had
driven him so hard that
he watched
England play at the
World Cup without re-
gret.
In an interview with
the Daily Telegraph,Hartley said: “I’d had enough of being
governed by Eddie. Playing for England
felt a bit like taking part in one of those
brutal dance marathons in the Great
Depression of the 1920s, where penni-
less
couples kept going until they
collapsed.”
Hartley, who made his Test
debut in 2008, is critical in
his book about the way
players are treated by the
sport’s governing bodies.
“My generation of
players have been crash
dummies for a sport in tran-
sition from semi-
professionalism,” he wrote.
“It’s being reshaped, subtly
but relentlessly, by money
men, geo-politicians, talking
heads and television execu-
tives. They treat us as warm
bodies, human widgets.”Alex Lowe
Deputy Rugby Correspondent
Hartley says Jones is the
best coach he played forFootball
Champions League,
quarter final
Barcelona(1)2 B Munich(4) 8
Alaba (og) 7
Suarez 57Muller 4, 31
Perisic 22
Gnabry 28
Kimmich 63
Lewandowski 82
Coutinho 85, 89Rugby union
Gallagher Premiership:
Harlequins 16 Sale Sharks 10.Golf
Celtic Classic: second-round leaders
(England unless stated): 131 S
Horsfield 67, 64. 132 T Pieters (Bel)
64, 68. 133 T Detry (Bel) 67, 66; A
Johnston 67, 66; C Shinkwin 68, 65.Snooker
Betfred World Championship:
Crucible Theatre, Sheffield: semi-
finals (best of 33 frames, England
unless stated): K Wilson bt A McGill
(Sco) 17-16; R O’Sullivan bt M Selby
17-16.RESULTS
FIXTURES
Tradition dictates that BT Sport’s
rugby coverage takes place on the pitch,
with former England internationals
cornering players at inopportune
moments for varying degrees of insight.
On its return, however, the pundits
were consigned to the gantry to
movingly address five months of social
history, rather than the importance of
the breakdown.
The teams came out to the unmistak-
ably hollow applause heard up and
down the country in lower-league
matches, when the noise echoes
around stands. The gantry was not big
enough for all three commentators:
Nick Mullins and Lawrence Dallaglio
were responsibly distanced together,
but Ugo Monye had to sit in the stands.
The absence of fans did not detract
from the game, only the rust of the
players. The fake crowd noises were
taken from the match between the sides
last season. Quins won 51-23 that day,
though based on the soundtrack there
were also several brief fire alarms,
superb bipartisanship from all and a
general air of spectators not paying
attention.
The piped audio helped but seemed
somewhat random, as if mashed
together by several DJs at once, each
unable to hear what the others have
provided. When Marcus Smith opened
the scoring with a penalty goal, it resem-
bled white noise, which quickly turned
into polite clapping. There was, at least,
impeccable respect for the goalkicker.
It was strange to hear no screams
from an incredulous crowd when the
away side had a potentially not-straight
lineout or a borderline high tackle,.
though Sale did not even need the
enmity of home spectators to give away
12 penalties in the first half alone.
The presence of a referee mic means
that fans are accustomed to hearing the
official’s decisions and the nitpicking of
players, but no extra insight was gar-
nered. For all that was different, a sem-
blance of normality: Joe Marler was
reprimanded for talking too much.Elgan Alderman
View from the sofathe strangest of nights
STEVE BARDENS/GETTY IMAGES FOR HARLEQUINSAll so random –
except for the
sound of Marler
strict new laws came into force, is sent crashing to earth by a bruising tackle from the Harlequins No 8 Alex Dombrandt