EDDIE JONES HIT out at World Rugby over a “ridiculous” red card shown to New Zealand’s Scott Barrett and allayed injury concerns over Tom Curry after England’s Rugby World Cup warm-up win over Wales.
England ended Grand Slam winners Wales’ run of 14 consecutive victories with a 33-19 triumph at Twickenham yesterday.
Tries from Billy Vunipola, Joe Cokanasiga and Luke Cowan-Dickie, and a perfect kicking display from stand-in captain George Ford, prevented a strong Wales side from replacing New Zealand at the top of the rankings.
It was events in Perth a day earlier that Jones was more keen to discuss, taking aim at the governing body for Jerome Garces’ dismissal of Barrett. The All Black was ordered off for a no-arms tackle on Michael Hooper in Australia’s Bledisloe Cup victory over the world champions.
“We saw a red card yesterday which affected the game, and potentially I think we need to get some consistency in that area of the game.” said the England head coach. “In the World Cup, if you lose a player to a red card — as New Zealand did yesterday — it makes the game very difficult.
“We saw two instances today when that could have happened, and I urge World Rugby – though I don’t think they do anything at great pace – to get some consistency in that area. Otherwise, we are going to have games that are being destroyed by an inconsistent official making a decision on a law that is not clear.”
Asked about Barrett’s punishment, Jones said: “I thought it was ridiculous. A bloke gets tackled, he goes to be in as second man and his shoulder hits the head and gets a red card.
“We cannot have that in the game, there has to be some common sense applied. Maybe common sense was applied today really well, but what I’m saying is that we need to have some consistency in common sense. It’s important for the game, really important for the game.”
Jones had more positive words to say on flanker Curry, who was withdrawn in the first half with a shoulder injury the day before England’s World Cup squad is announced.
The Australian said: “He’s got a bit of an AC joint, we don’t feel it’s too serious. I thought he was absolutely outstanding, he’s worked really hard in the off-season to make himself a bit bigger and a bit more dynamic — we’ll see a lot more of him.”
