Songs in the shower with Owen Farrell, watching matches with the rest of his squad and punishing the use of mobile phones with press-ups to encourage them to talk to each other. It’s fair to say that Dylan Hartley is slowly revealing himself to be the people’s captain, such is his belief that a strong culture among the England side can be the secret to their success.

Eddie Jones has taken the plaudits for the 16-match winning run under his tenure, but credit must also go to the no-nonsense skipper. Hartley has kept Jamie George at bay, kept his discipline – for England, at least – and kept the side winning, which by all accounts is what matters most.

But he’s also done this while encouraging something of a club atmosphere among the international side, something that is extremely difficult to do when the most time they spend together consecutively is less than two months.

Hartley has also been happy to talk about the things his squad are doing the help breed that attitude. He was open about his bond with Farrell ahead of the fly-half’s 50th cap, revealing his love of singing in the shower, while his latest revelation about how England will watch Wales vs Ireland on Friday – as they did the two other matches ahead of England’s clash with Italy – shows what Hartley and his side are trying to achieve.

“I think it’s great,” Hartley said. “Just sit there on Saturday, after you’ve done your team run, after you’ve done all the hard work in the week, you sat down with your chicken goujons, maybe a bit of chocolate – some of the guys have chocolate, I don’t – and just actually watch some rugby as a spectator is really nice. So tomorrow [Friday] night, we’ll look forward to that.

“It won’t be compulsory but the whole squad will. And that’s a good thing. Culture is a good thing.”

Hartley and Farrell are good friends off the field (Getty)

Another good thing for England would be a Wales victory over Ireland, which would then open up the chance for the defending Six Nations to retain their crown with a game to spare should they beat Scotland the following day, given they will head into the final weekend with an insurmountable lead in the table and just the Grand Slam left to play for.

But Hartley won’t yet doth his Wales cap, such is the rivalry between the two nations, and despite the clear advantage that a Welsh victory would bring, he just couldn’t bring himself to say it.

“I’m pretending I don’t know how the points sit,” Hartley added. “It’s relevant to us because we want to win against Scotland and then next week. We can only control what we can control, and that’s Scotland on Saturday.

“We just worry about ourselves.”

Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Show all 15 1 /15 Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Ben Moon (England) Placed in the unenviable position of replacing the best loosehead on the world and did himself proud. Lasted 77 minutes of England’s defeat in Wales which is no small feat in such an attritional encounter, and held his own in the scrum and defence with an impressive 19 tackles. AFP/Getty Images Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Leonardo Ghiraldini (Italy) Another player who displayed his best in defeat. Ghiraldini was reliable at the lineout and stood out with ball in hand as he carried powerfully in attack. Also contributed with a full 80-minute outing. AFP/Getty Images Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Demba Bamba (France) One of France’s most prominent carriers as they finally got their campaign up and running with an impressive victory over Scotland. Looks a real find at 20 years old and can more than hold his own in the front-row. AFP/Getty Images Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Cory Hill (Wales) Scored the try that broke England’s spirit and put Wales on the path to victory in Cardiff. Took on responsibility at the lineout when Ken Owens started to wobble, and looked like a man who had emptied the tank when he left the field to huge applause. Getty Images Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Alun Wyn Jones (Wales) What more can you say about the Welsh captain? Leads by example, but then he’s never short of the right words when they’re needed. A colossus against his oldest enemy as he mentally broke Kyle Sinckler and led the charge in refusing to bow to the English defence. At 33 years old, he seems to be getting better by the day. AFP/Getty Images Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Josh Navidi (Wales) Is transpiring to be quite the player at international level as this week he displayed both sides of his game. Defensively brilliant as he ensured everything that he hit stayed hit, but also offered more offensively with smart support play to those around him. One good turnover with Liam Williams brought three points for Wales as they trapped Jonny May in possession. Getty Images Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Tom Curry (England) Arguably the standout performer of the round. At 20 years of age, the promise in Curry is enough to make every England fan excited, even if it came in a losing effort. England’s half-time lead in Cardiff – and Wales’ inability to get into the match – came through Curry as he scored an opportunistic try and defended like a man possessed. Made an astonishing 17 tackles by half-time and added eight more after the break. Action Images via Reuters Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Louis Picamoles (France) Mr Reliable once again turned up for the resurgent French as they took the fight to Scotland and came away with the victory. Carried emphatically from the base and caused problems for the French back-row, while he was also a rock in defence. AFP/Getty Images Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Tito Tebaldi (Italy) Probably the surprise package of the round. Made his first Six Nations appearance since 2014 and proved to be the spark that the Italians needed to get going. Quick to the breakdown that helped produce Edoardo Padovani’s opening try and stripped Conor Murray of the ball to breakaway that set-up the second. He was also a useful addition at the breakdown. REUTERS Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Romain Ntamack (France) Lived up to the high billing he’s received on his first start in the No 10 shirt after two outings at centre, and looked to do enough to hold on to his place for the trip to Ireland. Part of a Toulouse spine running through the back line that clicked into gear and he calmly finished a brilliant 70m move to get France off the mark. EPA Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Josh Adams (Wales) A beautiful finish sparked wild celebrations inside the Prinicipality Stadium as he soared above Elliot Daly and juggled the ball as he crashed to the turf before placing it over the line. Superb in defence, particularly aerially, and made a crucial tackle on Jonny May when he looked to be away. Getty Images Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Gael Fickou (France) Probably one of his best outings for Les Bleus that came at the perfect time with Wesley Fofana still absent through injury. Caused Scotland to retreat on numerous occasions with clean line breaks and also contributed well in defence. AFP/Getty Images Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Chris Farrell (Ireland) In the absence of Robbie Henshaw, Garry Ringrose and – after just 11 minutes – Bundee Aki due to injury, Farrell helped ensure that Ireland didn’t slip-up in Rome. It was his clean line break that set-up Quinn Roux to score the opener, while he also linked nicely with Earls outside him for his Munster teammate to scythe through the Italian defence. Getty Images Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Keith Earls (Ireland) Ireland boss Joe Schmidt couldn’t have asked much more from him as he showed good awareness to link with Conor Murray to score the third try to get Ireland back in front, feigning to go outside before cutting back inside two defenders to score. Made numerous line breaks and also had to show his versatility by moving from wing to centre. AFP/Getty Images Six Nations team of the weekend - round three Thomas Ramos (France) Perhaps harsh on Wales’ Liam Williams who enjoyed an excellent outing in Cardiff, but there was something quite brilliant about watching Ramos’ display in Paris. Beat seven defenders, three of which came in a breath-taking counter attack that led to Ntamack’s try. All of this came on his first Six Nations start, and it felt like the arrival of France’s new long-term full-back. AFP/Getty Images

England haven’t had to do a lot of worrying during Jones’s time as head coach, but they were at panic stations in the first half against Italy last time out. Conor O’Shea and Brendan Venter set Italy out to remove the ruck by not engaging in contact, which not only left England scratching their heads but also experiencing one of the least physically draining matches they have ever played in.

Jones’s response was to draw a line under the performance against Italy, something he has been keen not to talk about because “we didn’t play any rugby”, and Hartley added that a gruelling weeks’ training in Oxford followed to ensure that the players are ready from the get-go this weekend, having gone four weeks without a seriously physical encounter.

Hartley believes England learned from 'Ruckgate' (Getty) (Getty Images)

“[It was] Real good application from the guys in Oxford,” said Hartley. “The effort put in was second-to-none. And that is a good characteristic to have, working hard when there is not a game at the weekend. Coaches pushed us and the team reacted well. This week has been all about sharpening the axe for Scotland.

“[We] Covered off ruckgate in one meeting. The big learning we took was to deal with situations presented, adapt sooner rather than later, find ways to understand what the ref is doing, what the other team is doing. Coaches pushed us physically, not with a stick and we worked bloody hard. Lots of teams would have a week off but we certainly don’t have a week off. A lot of good prep was done before Monday this week.”