England coach Jones slams ‘out of control’ rugby rulebook
England coach Eddie Jones blasted the state of test rugby, with the laws of the game again the major talking point after his side’s win over the Wallabies.
Australian wing Izaia Perese and Jones’ playmaker Marcus Smith were both given 10-minute sin-bins for what were deemed deliberate knock downs when they spilt attempted intercepts.
Their exits drew exasperation from the crowd and bewilderment on social media from those watching at home, their collective groans backed up by Jones post-game.
He said neither man deserved to be binned because they were attempting to make a clean catch and that the law to determine a deliberate knock down ‘‘doesn’t make any sense’’.
But the colourful coach took it further, pointing to the New Zealand-Ireland test earlier on Saturday, as the All Blacks copped two yellow cards and a contentious red in their loss.
‘‘The game’s out of control,’’ Jones said.
‘‘You saw the New Zealand Ireland test; at one stage, commentators couldn’t count how many players were on the field, you had three backs packing a scrum.
‘‘We’ve gone the full hog where everything’s a red card, yellow card and there needs to be some common sense.’’
Wallabies coach Dave Rennie was more
circumspect, but suggested that even the officials didn’t like the deliberate knock-down law and he felt Perese had made a genuine attempt to take the catch.
The 25-17 victory — Australia drew within five points after trailing 19-0 — relieved some pressure on Jones and forced a series decider in Sydney this Saturday.
The veteran coach played with journalists who had amplified the pressure on him after their seriesopening loss in Perth last week.
‘‘I love it,’’ he said of the outside noise. ‘‘I think it’s fantastic. I love my mother ringing me up in the morning, saying, ‘are you getting sacked, when are you getting sacked?’
‘‘I love that, my poor mother. But I don’t mind, I made the choice to take the job and there’s an infatuation with sacking coaches now.’’
Meanwhile, replacement first five-eighth Gareth Anscombe kicked a sideline conversion with less than two minutes left to give Wales a 13-12 victory and their first over the Springboks on South African soil yesterday.
Anscombe’s nerveless kick, following wing Josh Adams’ late try, shocked the world champions in Bloemfontein, but also made them pay for a selection gamble when they changed 14 of their 15 starters from the first test and gave six players debuts with a series still in the balance.
Wales pounced on the opportunity to level the series 1-1, with a decider this Sunday in Cape Town.
In other matches, replacement Baptiste Couilloud’s try in the 71st minute snatched France a 20-15 win over Japan in the second test and a 2-0 series win at the National Stadium in Tokyo, while Scotland proved too strong for Argentina, winning 29-6.
In the Pacific Nations Cup, hooker Ray Niuia scored three tries from lineout drives on Saturday as Samoa rallied from 18-3 down in the first half to beat Tonga 34-18 and stay unbeaten after two rounds.