Eddie Jones hinted that any failure by match officials to spot foul play at the lineout which led to England’s try was payback for the controversial events of last season’s clash with Wales in Cardiff.
There were suggestions the 43rd-minute score by former Cardiff Met student Alex Dombrandt resulted from Maro Itoje having impeded Adam Beard at a set-piece from which Dombrandt gathered an overthrow to touch down.
Wales boss Wayne Pivac said afterwards that he felt it was definitely a penalty, but Jones was having none of it.
And the Australian couldn’t resist harking back to the controversy of the 2021 Six Nations encounter between these two sides.
Wales won 40-24 to seal the Triple Crown that day after referee Pascal Gauzere allowed a Josh Adams try from a quick-tap penalty while England had their backs turned, and then another from Liam Williams following what looked a blatant Louis Rees-Zammit forward pass. You can recap those incidents here.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about mate, you’ll have to ask the referee,” Jones said when asked if he felt his side had got away with an offence at the lineout.
Pressed on the performance of referee Mike Adamson, Jones added: “I don’t comment on the referee, we take the good with the bad.
“We took 14 points [against us] last year in a Six nations game when they [Wales] were allowed to play when the ball wasn’t alive and then from a blatant knock on.
“So there’s a rub of the green there mate, sometimes you get, sometimes you don’t.
“Today we’re not going to complain about it, just like we didn’t complain when we didn’t get the rub of the green.”
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Jones was also unhappy with the way Adamson oversaw the scrum battle, saying his team “weren’t allowed to scrum”.
He singled out an attacking England scrum in the 23rd minute, which saw Kyle Sinckler penalised for an early disengagement.
“We had a five metre scrum against 14 men and, as Courtney [Lawes] said, we’ve got a dominant scrum,” Jones added.
“That was clearly evident and then we get penalised for an engagement infringement.
“If we don’t do that we possibly score seven points and the game becomes completely different.
“I suppose it’s a good learning experience for a young group of players who have to learn how to handle these situations.”
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