Jones turns on Australia after England red-card win
EDDIE JONES opened a war-of-words with Australia last night as he questioned the scrummaging technique of next weekend’s opponents and called for a meeting with the match referee to raise his concerns.
England’s head coach accused his countrymen of being ‘disrespectful’ by rubbishing Stuart Lancaster’s team’s scrum during last year’s World Cup. He also insisted he will be airing his own concerns about the Wallabies’ forwards with South African referee Jaco Peyper this week.
It was a move designed to deflect attention from Elliot Daly’s fifthminute sending off as England recorded their 12th win in succession under Jones with yesterday’s 27-14 defeat of Argentina.
‘We are looking forward to playing Australia next week which is going to be a bit of fun,’ he said.
‘The Australian media last June was very disrespectful to us.
‘I’m sure they are going to be at that again, so we have got to be prepared and I am very keen to have a chat to
the referee about the Australian scrummaging.
‘They have got some issues with the way that they scrum so we need to have a meeting with the referee and we will invite the Australian coaching staff to come along.
‘We will submit an agenda and make sure that everything is above board.
‘They were penalised four times in a row against France so they have got some technical issues.
‘I am not going to sort them out for them. The best win is to come — Australia will be the best win.’
Daly’s sending off for a reckless tackle on Leonardo Senatore at Twickenham was described by Sir Clive Woodward as a ‘black mark’ against the young winger, although Jones shrugged it off by saying ‘these things happen’.
There was more concern around the knee injury which forced No 8 Billy Vunipola off in the 38th minute and looks set to rule him out for a substantial period.
Jones added: ‘He’s in a bit of pain and we’ll wait and see. He will have some medical examinations.’