Eddie laughs off any citing threat to his man Owen
England head coach Eddie Jones last night laughed off the prospect of Owen Farrell being cited for a dangerous tackle at the end of yesterday’s 12-11 win over South Africa.
Farrell appeared to lead with the shoulder in tackling Andre Esterhuizen, an offence that could have resulted in a red card being issued by referee Angus Gardner.
However, the Australian official decided Farrell’s tackle was legal to deny South Africa a kickable penalty that would have won the game.
A retrospective citing could yet follow in the next 24 hours, potentially jeopardising Farrell’s place in next Saturday’s Test with world champions New Zealand.
Jones said: “You can get cited for something you did at a party when you were 15, anything could happen.
“A good thing is when I was 15 we didn’t have iPhones. We had little Nokia phones. They didn’t have a camera.
“I’ve got no idea what can happen.”
South African head coach Rassie Erasmus’s response to the Farrell incident was laced with sarcasm.
“If it was a shoulder charge the referee would’ve penalised him and we had a chance to win the game,” Erasmus said.
“It was a good tackle, well done, because I haven’t seen Andre Esterhuizen being tackled like that in a while.
“If it was all legal – and I didn’t have a good look at the replay – we should start tackling like that.
“It’s obviously something that’s really effective. We should look on it and execute it like that.”