Andy Farrell was in action for Saracens in their Anglo-Welsh Cup match against Northampton Saints © Getty Images

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Matches: Saracens 33 - 19 Northampton Saints

Players/Officials: Dylan Hartley

Tournaments/Tours: Anglo-Welsh Cup

Teams: Northampton Saints | Saracens

Saracens director of rugby Eddie Jones today expressed serious misgivings over Northampton hooker Dylan Hartley's big-match temperament.

Jones watched Hartley escape with a lecture for a high tackle on scrum-half Moses Rauluni in Saracens 33-19 EDF Energy Cup victory over Northampton.

He said: ``He took the head of the player away from the ball and it's a serious misdemeanour.

``He has tended to have a reputation off the ball. We are certainly not happy with it.''

Casting doubts over Hartley's suitability for international rugby, the former Australia coach added: ``Discipline's exacerbated by the pressure of the game and, obviously, the last 10 minutes of today's game is every minute of a Test match.

``Every possession you get counts when you're playing against the top five so that would be the worry. He seems like a good kid, he can play a bit, but you don't want to see players doing those sort of things.

``If he's doing it in a club game like this then you'd worry about him in a Test match.''

Jim Mallinder, Northampton's director of rugby, defended Hartley.

``I had a quick look at it on the replay and didn't think it looked that bad actually,'' he said. "He's aggressive but he's controlling himself and I think the referee probably made the right decision. It wasn't the best challenge and he got penalised for it.''

Hartley was suspended for six months for gouging the eye of Wasps and England's James Haskell two seasons ago but Mallinder maintained that he is ready for England.

``He has a good game, he's a good player, he's big, he's physical, he likes carrying the ball and he's good defensively,'' he added. "I think he now needs some international rugby to test himself against the best.''

Saracens' co-captain Steve Borthwick is hot favourite to be named England captain by manager Martin Johnson this week and Jones added: ``He's done a marvellous job for us, just with his competitiveness, he's so serious about his rugby.

``I wasn't going to play him today but he wanted to play. Then I was only going to play him for 40 minutes and he wouldn't come off the field. That's the sort of commitment you want and if Martin does make him captain and surrounds him with three or four people of the same likeness of mind, that's going to be important.

``If they can do that the whole talent in England will be galvanised and there is plenty of talent out there.''