Eddie Jones Has A Pop At “United Nations” Ireland & Tries To Get In Referee Pascal Gauzere’s Head
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Outspoken.
England boss Eddie Jones has, as per usual, looked to add some extra spice to this weekend’s game with Ireland by having a not so subtle dig at their selection policy.
A third of Ireland’s starting XV this weekend – CJ Stander and Quinn Roux (South Africa) and Bundee Aki, James Lowe and Jamison Gibson-Park (New Zealand), qualify for Ireland through the residency rule.
While three of the replacements – Rob Herring (South Africa), Billy Burns (England) and Finlay Bealham (Australia), all qualify through Irish grandparents.
Jones said he couldn’t help but chuckle when he heard Ireland being referred to as the “United Nations.”
“I heard someone calling them the United Nations, mate, so I had a little chuckle,” Jones said.
“Andy Farrell, Mike Catt are just selecting the team they are allowed under the regulations.
“I can understand how Irish people would be upset about Irish-born players missing out. But they are the laws and regulations of international rugby; they are just sticking by the regulations.”
Jones also looked to get in referee Pascal Gauzere’s head about Andrew Porter’s scrummaging.
“Well, I think the scrum contest is always challenging against Ireland,” Jones said
“We’ve got a referee on the weekend who generally doesn’t reward dominant scrums so it’ll be interesting to see how he looks at that area. We’ll need to be adaptable to his calls on it, it’s no use scrummaging if you can’t get a result out of it.
“Porter’s done really well mate, he’s taken to Test rugby well, scrums in a fairly unusual way which may need some referee intervention there, so we’ll wait and see. I’ll leave that up to the referee.”