Rugby boss OK with Jones-Cheika sparring

ENGLAND coach Eddie Jones and Australia counterpart Michael Cheika can continue their verbal jousting ahead of this weekend’s clash at Twickenham without fear of a Jose Mourinho-style punishment, the chief executive of World Rugby said on Wednesday.

Jones and Cheika have both publicly questioned the other side’s scrum, in what appear to be attempts to influence South African referee Jaco Peyper, who will be in charge on Saturday (at 9:30pm Cambodian time).

“I was very interested in their scrummaging over there during the summer [in England’s 3-0 series win in Australia in June] and they are welcome to come to the meeting with the referee,” said former Wallaby boss Jones immediately after 14-man England’s 27-14 victory over Argentina at Twickenham last Saturday.

Cheika, who played alongside Jones at Sydney club Randwick, responded by slamming the scrum technique of England prop Dan Cole, sin-binned against the Pumas.

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho was recently given a £50,000 ($60,000) fine by England’s governing Football Association for putting “an additional layer of pressure” on referee Anthony Taylor before last month’s draw against Liverpool at Anfield.

Taylor’s suitability to take charge of the game was widely questioned in the build-up, mainly on account of the fact he lives in Altrincham, in Greater Manchester. According to Mourinho, such talk was adding to the pressure on Taylor and making it “hard for him to have a very good performance”.

The Portuguese’s comments were arguably far less contentious than anything uttered by Cheika or Jones.

But World Rugby chief executive Brett Gosper on Wednesday said he did not believe his two fellow Australians had overstepped the mark.

Nor did he have plans to stop coaches meeting with a referee prior to a Test – even though Cheika said on Tuesday: “I don’t think refs like those meetings.”

“It’s hard to control what coaches say,” Gosper said. “We have enough rules in place that any comment coaches might want to make about officiating, there are channels for them to use.”

Many within rugby union contrast their sport’s respect for match officials with the “free-for-all” that sees football referees often engulfed by a mob of angry players every time they make a decision.

Gosper himself came under fire after World Rugby issued a statement following Australia’s dramatic World Cup quarterfinal win over Scotland at Twickenham last year that said South African referee Craig Joubert had make a mistake in awarding the Wallabies what turned out to be a match-clinching penalty with seconds to spare.

“We want the value preserved that there isn’t public criticism of the referee. It’s a standard we hold very highly,” Gosper said on Wednesday.