Eddie Jones insists Anscombe try call is done and dusted
Eddie Jones has criticised World Rugby for their "retrospective refereeing" of England's NatWest 6 Nations victory over Wales at Twickenham.
Eddie Jones has criticised World Rugby for their "retrospective refereeing" of England's NatWest 6 Nations victory over Wales at Twickenham.
The sport's global governing body announced on Tuesday that television match official Glenn Newman made an error by ruling out a try for Gareth Anscombe when Warren Gatland's men trailed 12-0 in the second quarter.
Gatland later described the decision as a "terrible mistake" and his view has been supported by World Rugby, who said in a statement that "Wales should have been awarded a try as the Wales player grounded the ball".
Jones is uncomfortable when calls made by officials are subsequently corrected, as happened in the quarter-finals of the 2015 World Cup when it was admitted referee Craig Joubert made a mistake that effectively cost Scotland a place in the semi-finals.
"They (World Rugby) have a record of doing it. They've done it before," the England head coach said.
"I'm on a good behaviour bond so I've got to be careful what I say, but I just think that once the game's done and dusted that's the game.
"You can't have retrospective refereeing of decisions being done. The game's done and dusted, so we've got to trust the referees and respect their integrity.
"When I say respect the referee, that's the TV process as well. You leave it at that, and then you get on with it. One side's won, one side's lost.
"In Japan they have a great saying: 'At full-time there's no side'. That's one of the traditions of rugby, you get on with it, you respect the decision.
"If you haven't got the rub of the green then you know you probably get it in the next couple of games. The TMOs do an excellent job. They make a decision."
England's Six Nations title defence resumes against Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday week amid mixed fortunes on the injury front.
Sam Simmonds will miss at least the next two matches with a shoulder injury but off-setting his loss is the availability of Nathan Hughes, who Jones confirmed will start at number eight after recovering from a knee problem.
Anthony Watson and Owen Farrell are expected to recover from the unspecified knocks they sustained against Wales, but Elliot Daly has now suffered damage to his calf having completed his rehabilitation from an ankle complaint.
England performed a live scrummaging session against Georgia in west London on Tuesday as part of a two-day visit by the Eastern Europeans designed to put the Six Nations champions' pack through their paces.
"Georgia were just the sort of scrum we needed to scrum against - strong, scrummaged in a different way," Jones said.
"The boys learnt a number of different things. They had the superiority early on and we came back well. It was an excellent session for us.
"Georgia use their head and shoulders in different ways. There are different ways of exerting pressure in scrums - some of it's old-fashioned, some of it's new.
"They do different things. They scrum for a living and our guys have learnt a number of different things."