ENGLAND ‘BULLIES’ SLATED

AUSTRALIA head coach Michael Cheika yesterday accused England of landing cheap shots on his players. Ahead of their clash at Twickenham tomorrow, Cheika claimed Eddie Jones’ team deliberately target the Wallabies’ half-backs with late tackles. ‘They will try to bully us,’ said Cheika, who has lost four Tests against England since Jones took charge. ‘They try to bully us at the scrum, at the line-out and at the ruck — trying to get into us, niggle, trying to get into our half-back after he passes, the 10 after he passes. ‘There is so much footage of that. They wait for us to crack. If you get away with it, it’s legal isn’t it?’ Asked if he would raise the issue with referee Ben O’Keefe, Cheika replied: ‘I won’t highlight

it to the ref, what’s the point? It’s part of the game. You can’t let it get you rattled.’ When quizzed about Cheika’s accusations yesterday, Jones said: ‘I don’t have a response, we play the game legally.’

ENGLAND: Watson; May, Joseph, Farrell, Daly; Ford, Youngs; M Vunipola, Hartley (capt), Cole; Launchbury, Lawes; Robshaw, Hughes, Underhill.

Subs: George, Marler, Williams, Itoje, Simmonds, Care, Slade, Rokoduguni.

AUSTRALIA: Beale; Koroibete, Kuridrani, Kerevi, Hodge; Foley, Genia; Sio, Polota-Nau, Kepu; Simmons, Coleman; Hanigan, McMahon, Hooper (capt). Subs: Moore, Robertson, Alaalatoa, Philip, McCalman, Timani, Phipps, Hunt, Speight.