Eddie Jones has given his backing to Dylan Hartley to carry on as England captain for the Six Nations Championship even though the Northampton hooker will not have played for almost two months by the start of the tournament following his six-week ban for reckless tackling.

It is not just the fact that England are facing an injury crisis in the forwards with five of their frontline pack – the Vunipola brothers, Billy and Mako, locks George Kruis and Joe Launchbury and flanker Chris Robshaw – set to miss at least the opening game against France on Feb 4 that has persuaded Jones to keep faith with a player who has racked up 60 weeks in suspensions.

The England head coach believes that Hartley made a technical error of judgment in felling Leinster flanker Sean O’Brien with a high swinging arm rather than felling him maliciously. As a two-day training camp in Brighton came to a close, Jones said that he had laid down strict fitness criteria for Hartley to meet. If he does not hit those targets when the squad reconvene on Jan 22 for a week’s pre-Six Nations camp in Portugal, he will not be picked.