England's Dylan Hartley inspired by Chicago ahead of South Africa clash
Saturday 12 November 2016 13:45, UK
Dylan Hartley has urged England to look to Chicago for inspiration as they attempt to end a decade of failure against South Africa.
The autumn series at Twickenham opens with Saturday's visit of the Springboks, with the hosts keen to claim their 10th successive victory under Eddie Jones since he took over as head coach from Stuart Lancaster.
Hartley has noted the recent breaking of unwanted runs in Chicago, with Ireland defeating New Zealand for the first time in their history and the Cubs baseball team claiming the World Series for the first time in 108 years.
But rather than dwell on England's poor string of results against the Springboks of nine defeats and a draw, Hartley believes they have the quality to claim a confidence-boosting victory.
"Whatever happened in the past, the Irish wrote their own history and the Cubs wrote their own history, so we want to do the same as a team," said captain Hartley.
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"We are a team that have got a goal under Eddie Jones to be the best in the world and winning this game at the weekend is a huge step for us going forward as a team.
"Losses and wins are all in the past. We have been building for this game for a long, long time. The team is prepared and are desperate to win.
"The thing for us is the next step as a team. We are always focusing on the next game. Beating South Africa this weekend is just the next step in this team's progression."
England have built an impressive head of steam under Jones with a Grand Slam and 3-0 series whitewash of Australia among the results that has seen them climb to second in the world rankings.
But Hartley insists that will count for little against South Africa, while drawing strength from the knowledge they are heading in the right direction.
"It's not a momentum roll. If we had played the Australia series and then we'd gone straight into playing South Africa, then we could take momentum from that," Hartley added.
"What we can take from it is experience - we know that we've been in tough corners before and we've fought our way out.
"So it's not so much about momentum, it's about experiences and trusting your team-mates, knowing what it takes to regain control of the game or make the final push to win a game.
We have been building for this game for a long, long time. The team is prepared and are desperate to win.
"People talk about us being on a run but that is only on paper. We have drawn a line under those matches. If you talk about momentum, well we have just come together as a team.
"South Africa are at the end of a season so they are battle-hardened but we need to find that Test match intensity in those opening exchanges and get up to speed pretty sharpish."
Watch England v South Africa on Saturday. Coverage begins on Sky Sports 1 HD at 2pm.
