Dylan Hartley seeks to keep emotions in check

The top four English teams have played 1,760 minutes of rugby in the Aviva
Premiership this season, but the survival of their hopes and dreams for the
season will be condensed into a mere 80 minutes of the play-off semi-finals
today.

On the evidence of recent years, this distillation tends to produce
the English game’s most highly charged occasions, played in front of
partisan and excitable crowds.

Throw in the spice of some tasty tribal
rivalries and you have a highly combustible mix.



For Stuart Lancaster, the England head coach, looking on with singular
interest, these winner-…