Jones sees red at referee's 'absolute rubbish' call

LONDON • England coach Eddie Jones has slammed referee Ben O'Keeffe for the "bizarre" late red card shown to Manu Tuilagi as his side ground out a 33-30 win over Wales in the Six Nations at Twickenham on Saturday.

The outspoken Australian, risking disciplinary action, even suggested the Test had ended as a contest of "13 against 16".

The Rugby World Cup finalists were 33-16 ahead on the hour mark when Tuilagi scored their third try, but he was sent off with five minutes left after being adjudged to have committed an illegal no-arms tackle that stopped Wales wing George North crossing the line.

Implying New Zealander O'Keeffe was biased as England had two men down after replacement Ellis Genge was also sin-binned, Jones said: "I usually don't comment, but I don't see how you can tackle a guy, how else are you supposed to tackle him?

"It's absolute rubbish. I'm sorry, I've broken my rule. This bit about where your arms are - what a load of rubbish. There's no common sense applied in that situation.

"Clearly the guy's falling, there's a good chop tackle, Manu's coming over the top to kill the tackle and doing everything he's supposed to be doing - come on."

With England two men down, Wales scored tries in the closing minutes through fly-half Dan Biggar and Justin Tipuric, but the Red Rose held firm, much to Jones' delight.

"When you have a three-man advantage, it's going to do some damage so I thought we were exceptional," said Jones, who when asked what he meant, told reporters "to work it out".

Having started the competition with a defeat in France, England have now beaten Scotland, Ireland and Wales to clinch the Triple Crown, while looking very good for long spells.

Their final Six Nations game at Italy has, however, been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus outbreak, so the team's focus is now on their summer tour opener against Japan in Oita on July 4.

"We don't want to be that team that just wins at Twickenham," added Jones. "We're not there at the moment, but we believe we've made some strides this tournament and we're in a positive direction."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS