Thursday 19 January 2017 15:22, UK
Ireland captain Rory Best believes Dylan Hartley's latest ban will not scupper the hooker's chances of leading the Lions in New Zealand this summer.
Best feels Hartley, who is currently Eddie Jones' selection for England skipper, still has plenty of time to state a compelling case for the British and Irish Lions' captaincy.
Northampton forward Hartley took his career suspensions tally to 60 weeks with the six-week ban for striking Leinster's Sean O'Brien, with boss Eddie Jones since challenging him to prove his fitness ahead of the Six Nations.
Ulster hooker Best has been tipped as among the front-runners to captain the 2017 Lions' vintage - but the 34-year-old has moved to downplay his own chances.
"Dylan's not injured, so he has an opportunity to get a good block of training done without getting beaten up every week in a match situation," Best said.
"So from that side of things, when you get to March and the shake-up in the Six Nations for the last two rounds of that, you'd be going a long way to say that his ban from December would be dictating events."
Hartley was always a bold choice when Jones confirmed the Northampton front row as England captain in January 2016.
The combative hooker had lengthy suspensions on his rap-sheet for eye-gouging, biting, punching and elbowing when Jones named him skipper.
Hartley missed the 2013 Lions tour after a ban for verbally abusing referee Wayne Barnes in that year's Premiership final cost him his place in Australia.
He then missed the 2015 World Cup after head-butting Test rival Jamie George - but produced a flawless disciplinary display as Jones' England side won 13 out of 13 in a stellar 2016.
The 30-year-old will have time for just one Northampton appearance before the Six Nations - in the Anglo-Welsh Cup against fierce local rivals Leicester on January 28.
