EDDIE GOES ON THE RAMPAGE

He accuses Wales captain of intimidating referees

EDDIE JONES lit the fuse yesterday for an explosive England-Wales showdown at Twickenham by revealing that he has complained to World Rugby about visiting captain Alun Wyn Jones ‘intimidating’ referees.

England’s head coach accused the Lions lock of behaving like a footballer in attempting to put pressure on French official Pascal Gauzere at the end of Wales’ victory over Scotland last weekend. Jones (right) also tried to unsettle the confident Welsh side by repeatedly casting doubt on whether their rookie fly-half, Rhys Patchell, will have the ‘bottle’ to cope with the aggressive onslaught that awaits him in tomorrow’s Six Nations epic.

The gloves were off when Warren

Gatland took aim at the English earlier in the week and Jones was ready to return fire yesterday. Asked about tomorrow’s French referee Jerome Garces, Jones said: ‘He is a very experienced referee. He won’t let Alun Wyn Jones intimidate him.’ Referring to the Welsh captain’s bid to block a Scotland conversion in Cardiff last Saturday as he queried a try, Jones added: ‘That was right out of order. We can’t have that in the game. That’s borrowed from another sport and I really hope World Rugby don’t allow that to creep in. ‘Garces won’t tolerate that. He won’t let Alun Wyn Jones referee the game. It’s starting to creep in. All we say to England players is be respectful. At times players lose their cool, but that was a contrived bit of behaviour. It’s not great for the game. I’ve said something to World Rugby about it this week. ‘We’ve got to respect the integrity of the referee because we’ve got one of the most difficult games to referee. Players are bigger, faster, stronger. There are quicker decisions from the referee. If we don’t respect the integrity of the game, we’re going to lose part of the game. The players have to play their role in that.’