France vs England: Dylan Hartley misses training but will be fit for Grand Slam showdown

Training day: Dylan Hartley, the England captain, who did not train, looks on during the England training session

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Chris Jones16 March 2016

England insist captain Dylan Hartley missed afternoon training yesterday purely as a precaution and will be fit for the Grand Slam battle with France on Saturday.

The injury scare comes at a time when England are short of hookers following the arm injury suffered by Saracens’ Jamie George, who is out for more than two months.

Luke Cowan-Dickie is the replacement hooker but has only played two Tests while Sale’s Tommy Taylor, who had been called up for George, is uncapped. Hartley trained in the morning.

Away from the England camp, prop Joe Marler was today appearing before a Six Nations disciplinary hearing in London to answer a charge of striking Wales prop Rob Evans. A decision on whether Marler will face action for calling Wales’s Samson Lee “gypsy boy” will be announced after today’s hearing delivers its verdict.

Meanwhile, Billy Vunipola is demanding his team-mates do not “rest on our laurels” in Paris as they aim to clinch a first Grand Slam since 2003. The England No8 said: “It is important for us to finish it off now. If you start to relax that is when things go wrong.

“The French pack are really big and very confrontational. It is very important that we keep playing on the front foot and tire them out.”