England and Australia have been sniping at each other for decades right the way back to David Campese and the 1991 World Cup.
This has ratcheted up to a new level now that England have a mouthy Australian coach. Showing no effort to be subtle, Eddie Jones told the post-match press conference on Saturday that he was seeking a meeting with the referee Jaco Peyper to "have a chat" about the Australian scrummaging technique.
I am very keen to have a chat to the referee about the Australian scrummaging. They have got some issues with the way that they scrum so they need to have a meeting with the referee and we will invite the Australian coaching staff to come along.
We will submit an agenda and make sure that everything is above board. They were penalised four times in a row against the French so they have got some technical issues.
Michael Cheika has not taken it lying down. He responded today by accusing Dan Cole of "infringing the law since his career started probably."
Jones was having a crack and he wants to talk about our scrum because we’re cheating, I think an important thing to note is he’s got to look at his own players. Because they are the ones (with) a prop with a yellow card.
That same prop’s been infringing the law since his career started probably, if not all of this year. 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 have the yellow card against them, then it is really up to him.
All we do is scrum square and try to get as much weight as possible. It is very obvious from the clips, if you want to watch them instead of the all vitriol, they will tell you the story.
Cole was sin-binned just before half-time against Argentina on Saturday with the English scrum under severe pressure. With Cole off the field, Argentina finally got over the line to register some points on the board.
Cheika added that it was ironic that Jones was now mad for meetings. During the England tour of Australia in the summer, Jones stormed out of a meeting that the Australians had sought.
The Leicester rugby fraternity are suitably offended by Cheika's accusations against Cole.
Dan Cole. 'Cheating' his way to 68 England caps and 165 appearance for @LeicesterTigers, let's hope he keeps 'getting away with it'! #Cheika
— Martin Crowson (@martin_crowson) November 29, 2016
great shame that rugby has descended to level where international coach attacks a players whole career #top bloke #top player #dan Cole
— simon cohen (@simonjcohen) November 29, 2016
