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Cheika fires back at Jones in Wallabies scrum row

Jones raised concerns over the Australia pack at the weekend and said he wanted to discuss the issue with referee Jaco Peyper.

Cheika fires back at Jones in Wallabies scrum row
(Reuters)

England are seeking a record-equalling 14th consecutive victory while Australia are out for revenge after a 3-0 whitewash earlier this year.

Australian Cheika said his compatriot's comments were wide of the mark.

"We scrum square," Cheika told British media. "It will be up to the referee as to who he believes; if he wants to be influenced by the other chap that we are the ones scrumming illegally when they are the guys who had the penalty try and the yellow card against them then it is really up to him."

Cheika also took aim at Dan Cole, saying the England prop had built a career out of illegal scrummaging.

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"He (Jones) wants to talk about our scrum because we're cheating in the scrum, I think an important thing to note is he's got to look at his own players," Cheika said.

"Because they are the ones who got a penalty try against them and a prop with a yellow card. That same prop has been infringing the law since his career started probably, if not all of this year.

"If he thinks the refs are that naive that if he has a go at our scrum, they'll forget about his guy, that's up to the ref."

Cheika also suggested Jones had tarnished his own legacy back home.

"There was a lot of vitriol about Australia -- his home nation where he coached and where his opportunities were given to him to coach and grow up as a coach and play," he said.

"Personally, if you're looking to leave a legacy somewhere, you don't want to hit back at it, do you?"

(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)


2 min read

Published

Source: Reuters



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