Jones dismisses Welsh complaint after tense win
EDDIE JONES insisted any preferential treatment from referee Mike Adamson in their Six Nations victory over Wales evened the score after events in Cardiff a year ago.
Wales boss Wayne Pivac questioned whether Alex Dombrandt’s second-half try that propelled his side into a 17-0 lead at Twickenham should have stood because of an line-out infringement.
But Jones referenced England conceding two hotly-disputed tries at the Principality Stadium in the 2021 tournament when explaining why he felt no sympathy for the champions.
‘I don’t comment on the referee. We take the good with the bad,’ Jones said.
‘We took 14 points last year in a Six Nations game where they allowed a play where the ball wasn’t alive and then a blatant knock-on.
‘There’s the rub of the green. Sometimes you get it and sometimes you don’t. So if we got it today, that’s well and good.
‘We’re not going to complain about it, just as we didn’t complain last year when we didn’t get the rub of the green.’
But Pivac said: ‘If we had an opportunity to review that try, it probably wouldn’t have been given, so that was frustrating.’
Asked if he thought Wales lock Adam Beard had been pushed out of the lineout, Pivac added: ‘Yes, he was. He was chased down the lineout and bumped, which you can’t do, but unfortunately it wasn’t picked up and the try stands.
‘The replay we’ve seen, there was an offence there, we thought.’
Pivac heaped praise on Wales wing Alex Cuthbert, who marked his 50th cap with a blistering individual performance.
‘He was the guy coming off his wing, he was taking the ball down the right flank, then within a couple of phases he was taking the ball down the left flank in the 80th minute of the game. He was superb,’ said Pivac.
England were forced to weather two fightbacks from Wales in a roller-coaster second half, winning from a position where they have frequently fallen apart in the past.
Man-of-the-match Marcus Smith landed six penalties and Jones was delighted with the resilience shown in a victory that propels them back into title contention.
‘We put ourselves in a good wining position in the first 50 minutes, then had a period there for 10, 15, 20 minutes where we were a bit untidy in defence and let them back in the game, but for a young team there were some good signs out there,’ remarked Jones.
‘We got ourselves in a lot of good attacking positions and we were able to convert that to points.
‘But for a young team we need to find a way to be more ruthless once we get in the opposition’s 22.’
Ben Youngs stepped off the bench to become England’s most capped men’s player, his 115th appearance eclipsing the record set by Jason Leonard.
‘It’s a great tribute to his workethic, to his resilience, to his toughness,’ Jones said. ‘The thing I like about Ben is that he’s matured into a great team man. He always wants to be the starting half-back but he’s accepted for this game that he’s a finisher and he came on and did his job brilliantly.’
Jones revealed that Tom Curry left the field with concussion and Luke Cowan-Dickie is likely to miss the last two rounds because of a knee injury.
England: F Steward; M Malins, E Daly (J Marchant 74), H Slade, J Nowell; M Smith, H Randall (B Youngs 72); E Genge (J Marler 72), L Cowan-Dickie (J George 25), K Sinckler (W Stuart 68), C Ewels (N Isiekwe 68), M Itoje, C Lawes (Capt), T Curry (S Simmonds 41), A Dombrandt.
SCORERS: Tries: Dombrandt. Pens: Smith (6) WALES: L Williams (G Anscombe 72); A Cuthbert, O Watkin (J Davies 21), N Tompkins, J Adams; Biggar (capt), T Williams; W Jones (G Thomas 45), R Elias (D Lake 69), T Francis (S Brown 21), W Rowlands, A Beard, R Moriarty (S Davies 71), T Basham (O Morgan 55), T Faletau.
SCORERS: Tries: Adams, Tompkins, Hardy. cons: Biggar (2)
YELLOW card: L Williams REFEREE: Mike Adamson (Scotland)