Jones turns up the heat ahead of Australia clash by taunting their scrum
Eddie Jones lit the blue touchpaper ahead of England’s potential recordequalling showdown against Australia next week by demanding a meeting with referee Jaco Peyper to address the Wallabies’ scrummaging technique.
By beating Argentina 27-14, England moved to 13 straight wins after overcoming Elliot Daly’s red card in the fifth minute. Victory next Saturday – which may have to be attempted without Billy Vunipola, who suffered a knee injury at Twickenham – would equal England’s record number of consecutive wins, set under Sir Clive Woodward in 2003.
Standing in their way are Australia, who will be seeking revenge for their 3-0 whitewash in the summer. But Jones appeared keen to ratchet up the tension by criticising an Australian scrum that suffered in their 25-23 victory against France last week.
“I am very keen to have a chat to the referee about the Australian scrummaging,” Jones said. “They have got some issues with the way 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.”
Michael Cheika, the Australia coach,
tried to shrug off Jones’ barbed comments after his own side saw their hopes of a tour Grand Slam come to an end after losing an exhilarating game to Ireland, 27-24 in Dublin. “Everyone is going to be having a meeting,” said Cheika. “About our scrum? Mate, our scrum got penalised everywhere tonight, so they [England] should be pushing us around on Saturday no trouble. I don’t know why he [Jones] is worried about our scrum. I am not sure what we are doing wrong, but any road that will be a conversation for next week when we get to England.”
Jones insisted Daly would remain part of his plans for that game, despite the wing suffering a rush of blood to the head as he upended Leonardo Senatore in the air for a clear red card.
“Of course he will be,” Jones said. “He made an error of judgment and I make an error of judgment every time I go outside. We all do it.”
Enrique Pieretto, the Argentina replacement, was also shown the red card, for stamping on Joe Marler. Pascal Gaüzère, the referee, showed a total of six cards, a record in a game between two Tier One nations.
Having previously been critical of England’s defensive efforts, Jones was delighted with his side’s resilience.
“I thought it was a brilliant display,” he said. “Flexible, adaptable, courageous, we went out with a certain game plan but had to abandon it after 10 minutes. And the players did exceptionally well, the senior players regrouped and came up with another plan.”