‘We’ve got to beat them’

Jones’ hard line message to Aussie Super teams

NEW Wallabies head coach Eddie Jones spent the Super round in Melbourne assessing all five Australian Super teams from the stands as they battled it out over three days of action.

In the first round of Super Rugby Pacific there was just one trans-Tasman fixture for Jones to get a gauge from, with the Queensland Reds receiving a belting at the hands of the Hurricanes in Townsville.

At AAMI Stadium in round two the ledger was shared 1-all as the Rebels faced off against the Hurricanes and the Brumbies played the Blues.

The Brumbies held off the Blues for a 25-20 win and the Rebels produced a well fought comeback to push the Hurricanes but went down 39-33.

But Jones had a stern message for the Australian sides saying that it is ‘not good enough’ to have a close loss.

“We’ve got to beat them. (A close loss) is not good enough for us. We need to beat the New Zealand sides,” he told the ABC Offsiders program.

“The Rebels hung in the game, they could have got blown right out … you need to stay in the game with that intensity against the New Zealand sides. You can’t let them get on top.

One steward — an employee of Wellington firm Red Badge Security — was lifted up and slammed to the turf by one of the assailants, requiring medical attention.

“He’s fine, we’ve checked in on him today but it’s completely unacceptable behaviour so we are investigating potential assault there as well,” Harman said, adding that the pitch invaders appeared to have been working in unison, “entering from a similar position all at the same time”.