Jones slams ref for ‘bizarre’ Tuilagi red card

England coach Eddie Jones slammed referee Ben O’Keeffe for the “bizarre” sending off Manu Tuilagi late in a 33-30 win over Wales in the Six Nations Championship at Twickenham on Saturday that clinched the Triple Crown.

The outspoken Australian boss even suggested the match had ended as a contest of “13 against 16”, implying New Zealand official O’Keeffe was biased in Wales’s favour, with England two men down after replacement Ellis Genge was sin-binned and Tuilagi shown a red card.

World Cup finalists England were 33-16 ahead on the hour mark when Tuilagi scored their third try, but he saw red with five minutes remaining when he was deemed to have committed an illegal “no arms” tackle that stopped Wales wing George North scoring a try in the corner.

“I find it bizarre. I usually don ’ t comment, but I don ’ t see how you can tackle a guy.

“How else are you supposed to tackle him?” Jones said when asked about powerhouse centre Tuilagi’s challenge on North.

“This bit about where your arms are — what a load of rubbish.

“I think there’s no common sense applied in that situation. It’s absolute rubbish.”

The former Australia and Japan coach added: “Clearly the guy’s falling, there’s a good chop tackle, Manu’s coming over the top to kill the tackle and doing everything he’s supposed to be doing — come on.”

With England two men down, Wales scored tries in the closing minutes through flyhalf Dan Biggar and Justin Tipuric, the flanker crossing for a second time.

“When you have a threeman advantage, it’s going to do some damage so I said we were exceptional,” Jones said.

England captain Owen Farrell added: “I said it was a brilliant fight.

“When Wales got some ascendancy, I said it was very calm and collected about what we had to do next.”

Grand Slam chasing France are in pole position to be crowned Six Nations champions, but this win keeps England in title contention.

Their scheduled tournament finale against Italy in Rome on March 14 has been postponed due to the coronavirus and no new date has been set for the Stadio Olimpico fixture.

Meanwhile, Alun Wyn Jones said he hoped World Rugby would act after England prop Joe Marler grabbed the Welsh skipper’s penis during Saturday’s match.

The 34-year-old Welsh lock showed admirable restraint during the incident but said he hoped there would be some comeback from the sport’s governing body.

“It’s tough. Hopefully World Rugby will have a look at it,” Jones said after his side lost 3330.

“Joe is a good bloke and lots happens on a rugby field. After 138 Tests, I know if I react it ’ s a red card.”

Jones, whose side’s slim hopes of retaining their Six Nations title disappeared with a third successive defeat, said the incident and its aftermath had left him frustrated.

“It’s difficult as captain because you feel you can’t speak to the referee about anything,” he said.

“I looked at the touch judge but he didn’t see what happened, which is fine.

“A lot of footage was shown, a lot of supporters have seen what happened, it’s just very frustrating.”

As for how Jones and Marler greeted each other at the end of the match, the Welsh captain said: “I shook his hand and that was it. ”—