JONES IS HAPPY TO TAKE THE RUB OF THE GREEN THIS TIME

Eddie Jones last night insisted any preferential treatment from referee Mike Adamson towards England in yesterday’s 23-19 Guinness Six Nations victory over Wales evened the score after events in Cardiff a year earlier.

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,” the head coach 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.”

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.

“That was a very good win for us. Plenty of resilience, plenty of toughness,” Jones said.

“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.

“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.”