ENGLAND COACH EDDIE Jones has urged World Rugby to clamp down on a failure by Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones to “respect the integrity of the referee”.
The Australian was angered by the way in which Jones stood in front of Finn Russell and so prevented the Scotland fly-half from converting Pete Horne’s late try in last weekend’s Six Nations clash in Cardiff while the television match official reviewed the score.
Attacking teams have been known to rush conversions when there is a lingering doubt over the preceding try as, once a kick has been taken, it is too late to overturn the initial decision.
Although it did not affect the result, with Wales winning 34-7, points difference could yet play a role in the destiny of the Championship.
British and Irish Lions lock Jones exchanged words with both Russell and French referee Pascal Gauzere before retreating behind his posts.
In rugby the captain — and technically only the captain — is allowed to talk to the referee.
But ahead of what is sure to be a hard-fought England-Wales clash at Twickenham this Saturday, Eddie Jones added fuel to the fire by suggesting the Welsh skipper had gone over the top in Cardiff.
Out of order
“I thought that was right out of order,” said the England coach.
“When he tried to stop the referee from allowing the kick at goal — we can’t have that in the game.”
The former Australia and Japan coach added: “That’s borrowed from another sport and I really hope World Rugby don’t allow that to creep into the game because it shouldn’t be part of the game.
“All we say is just to be respectful. At times players lose their cool, but that was a contrived bit of behaviour.
“It’s not great for the game and I’ve said something to World Rugby about it, I feel that strongly.
“We’ve got to respect the integrity of the referee in the game because we’ve got one of the most difficult games to referee. And the game only gets more complex.
“It doesn’t get any easier. There’s more density around the ball. The players are bigger, faster, stronger. There’s quicker decisions from the referee to make.
“And if we don’t respect the integrity of the game we’re going to lose part of it.”
Another French official in Jerome Garces will be in charge at Twickenham as England, fresh from a 46-15 win over Italy in Rome on Sunday, continue their bid to become the first side to win three successive outright Six Nations titles.
Big match Garces
And Eddie Jones was confident Garces would not allow the Wales captain to “intimidate him”.
“Garces is a very experienced referee. He’s got plenty of big match experience, he knows how to handle interesting moments in games,” he insisted.
“He won’t let Alun Wyn Jones intimidate him. Garces won’t tolerate that sort of stuff. He won’t let Alun Wyn Jones referee the game.
“We say to our players just to be respectful. You’ve still got to respect the integrity of the referee.”
Some observers believe the increasing use of replays and the expanding role of the television match official has led to a rise in player protests and a reduction in the authority of the whistle-blower in the middle.
But Eddie Jones said: “All that video work is to help the referee make the correct decisions. So that’s to help them. And the players have got to play their role in that.”
The 42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
I’ve a theory: Eddie Jones is the person running all the troll accounts on the42
@Rudiger McMonihan: Any premises to support the conclusion? Otherwise, its ad homimem i.e. motivated by dislike of Jones in this case which is very bad reasoning.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: Its very good rhetoric for stirring the shit though. Well done.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: Yes I was seriously suggesting the English coach has enough time on his hands to set up multiple online accounts and troll an Irish website, when England aren’t even playing Ireland…
@Rudiger McMonihan: Really? I’d assumed you were just joking when I read your first comment. I have to say I don’t think it’s very likely myself.
And this is a man that has Dylan Hartley as captain
I don’t like Jones but, to be fair, Wyn Jones’ behaviour did show a lack of sportsmanship.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: Didn’t sexton do the same thing for Leinster recently and we all sang his praises?
I didn’t, and anyone who did probably knew that people should either criticise or stay silent, but not encourage incidents like that – deep down, anyway.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: have you rewatched the incident? He asked the question, was told ti go back to his try line ans went back to his try line. He didn’t try to stop the ref, he stood in front of the kicker to stop the kicker going quick to subvert the process.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: sorry he’s right, if it’s a good score why rush the conversion. Maybe a challenge card should be allowed where you get to question a decision and if found correct you get another.
@Rudiger McMonihan: if you are talking about the Wasps incident last season, Sexton, the captain, was right and Nigel was initially being belligerent by not checking. The try was about to be rewarded having being knocked on about two feet above the turf. It was reversed. If Sexton hadn’t appealed it would have been a 7-point try against. Respect for the ref is of paramount importance, but they don’t see everything and communicating with them is important too. As we saw on Saturday, the best referee in the world isn’t infallible.
@Conor Paddington: You’re missing my point. Regardless of the interaction between referee and captain, charging down kicks when the score hasn’t been cleared yet is not in the spirit of the game. He shouldn’t have had to be told to go back for that reason.
@Conor Paddington: Pretty sure it was against Munster earlier this season, because they had a forward pass before their try. Sexton was right to do it is my point. It isn’t disrespectful for a single player to ask the ref to look at something. A whole team surrounding a ref shouting and cursing the way that is common in football is disrespect.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: I think teams rushing a kick to avoid a video replay is against the spirit of the game. It’s unsportsmanlike to take a kick quickly in order to stop the ref reviewing it when you know is dodgy. Let the correct decision be made.
@Darren McGuire: Exactly
Above this article is a picture of Jones laughing which is exactly what he will be doing if anyone takes any heed of the eejit. Ignore him and he might go away.
Id love to go for a few pints with Eddie!
Eddie Jones has no right to talk about integrity. He has none himself
And all the English boys have halos around their heads!
Well if things dont go to plan for the english he can hardly blame the ref now!
Has Eddie become the coach we love to hate? Gatland played the bad guy for a few years but Eddie is really playing the pantomime villain, you can tell he enjoys it too
No better man to stir the shit!!!!!
Horrible ugly little man.
Any round-up of the darts last night? Suppose since Dublin last week wasn’t even worthy of a report, shouldn’t be expecting anything.
Any round up on the darts last night? Not even Dublin last week seemed worthy of a report though so I suppose shouldn’t be expecting anything