Rugby news: England defeat Wallabies 21-17 at SCG to win Ella-Mobbs Trophy
Video has emerged of England coach Eddie Jones blowing up at a Wallabies fan in a heated confrontation after being called a traitor.
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England coach Eddie Jones had a heated confrontation with a fan at the SCG last night after being called “a traitor”.
A furious Jones had to be held back from an England team official and urged the punter to “come here and say it” multiple times before he was forced to walk away.
Jones, an Australian and former Wallabies coach, has led England since 2016 and holds an incredible 10-1 win record over his former nation.Stream Over 50 Sports Live & On-Demand with Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >
Video has emerged of the fan in the SCG stands pointing at Jones saying, “You’re a traitor”.
A seething Jones makes a beeline for the Wallabies supporter and yells: “Come here and say it, come here and say it, come here and say it”.
Jones had last week expressed his delight at being able to shut up the Suncorp Stadium crowd in Brisbane after England’s second Test victory, after receiving some sledging.
Got what he deserved from Eddie pic.twitter.com/lUrtzrsB5h
— Adam Peacock (@adampeacock3) July 17, 2022
The incident marked a controversial end to England’s 2-1 series win, after which their players revealed they used comments made by Wallaby rivals in the media to fire themselves up for their victory.
It appears Taniela Tupou’s comments about Ellis Genge were particularly noticed - Genge was one of England’s best players in the second and third Test wins.
Despite Tupou merely saying Genge would be looking to smash him and he would try to do the same, the English players saw that as a red rag.
England skipper Courtney Lawes said after his side won 21-17 at the SCG, claiming the Ella-Mobbs Trophy, that the comments helped motivate his side.
“We saw plenty of stuff in the press about what some of their players were saying, some people targeting Gengey, some people calling us ‘Poms’ and what not,” Lawes said.
“It’s all fuel for our tank.
“Any good team uses that as motivation.”
However, Wallabies coach Dave Rennie dismissed that as post-victory antics.
“Geez, if we churned out every little comment that’s made and said that’s a motivating factor, I wouldn’t say they’re smack if you read the comments made,” Rennie said.
“It’s just a bit of byplay post the result, I reckon.”
Wallabies fall short as England rise to SCG occasion
England players jumped for joy at the SCG in scenes reminiscent of Ashes glories of days gone by after claiming the Ella-Mobbs Trophy with a 21-17 win against the Wallabies.
They survived a barrage of bouncers, so to speak, after defending stoutly for the final quarter of the match as Australia attacked from all angles and areas only to fall short.
Marcus Smith’s runaway try in the 55th minute, after Owen Farrell’s 50th-minute penalty, proved decisive.
Hooker Dave Porecki’s lineout throw went astray at the back. Noah Lolesio got there first but couldn’t control it, and his opposite snatches the ball and streaked down half the field to score.
At 21-10, England had a distinct advantage. A converted try and penalty or field goal still wouldn’t be enough for Australia – they had to score two tries, and took every opportunity to mount a campaign.
It yielded dividends when Folau Fainga’a barged through Farrell from close range in the 66th minute. It was Australia’s first points since the 31st minute.
The score at 21-17 gave Australia the chance to steal the game in the final 10 minutes.
But Pete Samu was tackled over the sideline metres short, a Tom Wright break was foiled, England skipper Courtney Lawes won a crucial breakdown penalty, and Luke Cowan-Dickie another as the visitors repelled raid after raid.
England forced themselves down the other end, had Jack Willis held up over the line, and after a confusing goal-line dropout scramble finish referee Paul Williams blew the whistle much to the dismay of the majority of the 43,274 in the stands.
But the England players were delirious, conquering Australia in a three-match series for the second time in succession, after their 3-0 win in 2016, also with Aussie coach Eddie Jones at the helm.
England won eight turnovers to three, a key to their triumph.
England’s 11-10 half-time lead was courtesy of a try after the siren break.
The Wallabies looked poised after Wright’s 24th minute try, and Lolesio’s penalty soon after had them up 10-3 in the 31st minute. But England soon were down the other end and just as they had to start the game, drew a penalty that Farrell nailed.
England then launched a sustained attacking raid at Australia – with Farrell hitting the post with another penalty attempt – and it would come to fruition late.
Eddie Jones had hooked halfback Danny Care early, in the 37th minute, and it was telling that replacement Jack Van Poortvliet made the calculated gamble to go shortside five metres out.
His crisp pass allowed fullback and man-of-the-match Freddie Steward to step inside Wright and minimise the impact of cover tackler Matt Philip to crash over.
The Wallabies’ handling woes were evident early, when Reece Hodge had Wright free out wide but passed over the sideline in the eighth minute. Two minutes later Nick Frost knocked on with the line begging, though he received a poor pass from Taniela Tupou who had broken through the line.
But it was Wright who lit up the stadium in the 24th minute with a long-range try, after Marika Koroibete had beaten Guy Porter and passed to his winger.
Wright flew down the sideline, passed inside to halfback Nic White who cleverly passed back to Wright immediately, leaving him a free run to the line.
The Wallabies will next have a two-match tour of Argentina to begin their Rugby Championship campaign.
There is still much to improve with the World Cup 14 months away.
REVEALED: JONES’ PLAN TO OVERHAUL WORLD RUGBY
England coach Eddie Jones plans to lead a coalition of rugby’s leading minds to convince World Rugby to relax over-the-top officiating to prevent next year’s World Cup turning into a farce.
Like most fans, Jones is fed up with the constant stoppages and pedantic laws that are turning big Test matches into frustrating, stop-start affairs that prevent consistent attacking football.
One eagle-eyed statistician this week compared last week’s second Test between the Wallabies and England to the third State of Origin rugby league match between NSW and Queensland, finding that the ball was in play for a total 55 minutes in Origin compared to just 32 minutes in the rugby.
“The referees are being put under pressure here, we can’t blame the referees,” Jones said.
“The referees, the players, the coaches need to get together and say ‘This is the game we want, this is the game the people want to see’, and try to put together a forthright case as to the proper officiating of the game.
“I’m certainly going to be pushing for it, because I’ve had enough.
“I don’t want to see a New Zealand-Ireland game like that ever again, where we don’t even know how many people are supposed to be on the field.
“That’s not the referees’ fault, it’s what they’re being pushed to do.
“Otherwise, imagine going to the World Cup, you get into a quarter-final, you get a red card, two yellows, you’re down to 12 men, it’s just ridiculous.
“Certainly before November I’m going to be agitating for something like that.
“We’ve got to keep the game safe, don’t get me wrong, but accidental head contact, and this [excessive] use of TMO, we’ve got to cut out.
“Everyone goes up north in November [for World Rugby meetings], so we’ve just got to find a way to do it.”
Jones said rugby officiating had become similar to tennis umpiring.
“We’ve got to get a better balance in the game, we’ve gone too absolutely trying to be right and playing it like it’s a tennis game, every decision’s got to be right,” Jones said.
“We’ve got to get back to having flow in the game.
“You watch that [Origin] game and there’s a natural flow and rhythm to it. And rugby, when it’s played at its best and we have the laws at the right level, we get that natural flow and rhythm in the game, and we don’t have it at the moment.
“Every time there’s a flow in the game we get a stoppage, we go back, someone’s taken out someone. Well, the referee couldn’t see it, so it can’t be too bad.
“If it’s a blatant red card offence we need to go back to it.
“[The] 2019 World Cup was pretty good, 2015 World Cup was better, 2011 was OK, 2007 was crap.
“There’s a rhythm to how rugby’s looked at and officiated, we’ve got to into the good rhythm again.
“If you see an offence that’s not a standout red card and the guy sees it, say ‘No.2 gold goes on report’. He goes on report, goes to the judiciary, barristers make some money, and he either gets fined or suspended, and the game is allowed to flow.”
But while Jones favours the NRL’s on-field report system, he is not advocating for a complete overhaul to make rugby similar to league.
“Our game is different and unique, and if we want to be like rugby league we just take the contest out of the game,” Jones said.
“What did rugby league do? In the 60s, when you played the ball you struck for it, when you had a scrum you had a contest, when you carried the ball you could strip, so there were so many penalties and the referees were so influential that fans were getting disenchanted with the game.
“So they took all the contest out of the game, made it fast and simple and physical. And rugby is a complex game because we’ve multiple contests; lineout, scrum, kick-off, rucks, mauls.
“And that’s the uniqueness of the game that allows different body types to play, which is part of the charter.
“So we’ve got to be careful of the fact we want to keep the game unique, and we don’t want to go to a mass entertainment sport.
“Because it would be easy to change rugby into mass entertainment sport, but it mightn’t be so interesting in 10 years’ time.”
Meanwhile, Jones took aim at Wallabies halfback Nic White, who earlier this week suggested England would bring a “fair bit of niggle” in the decider as they had the first two Tests.
“I hardly think he’s entitled to make that comment … he’s the biggest niggler of all time,” Jones said.
“That makes me laugh, that does make me laugh. The boy from Queanbeyan who niggles everyone, complaining about niggle. That’s a bit like the pot calling the kettle black.
“Obviously he thinks that, and his perception is reality, so he’s got a funny way of looking at reality.
“He’s just trying to look for something.”
JONES SLAMS WALLABIES FOR LETTING RUGBY DOWN
Eddie Jones has taken a swipe at Wallabies rival Dave Rennie over his decision to base his squad on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast for the majority of the three-Test series, leading to lesser media coverage.
The England boss, who earlier this series had bemoaned Rennie’s lack of desire to enter a war of words and said it would be like arguing with himself in the corner, returned to his hometown of Sydney this week with the deciding third match to be played at the SCG on Saturday night.
“I’ve been disappointed in the media coverage, I try to watch the news every morning and there’s nothing on it about rugby at all,” Jones said.
“As a person that grew up with rugby here, that’s disappointing. We need to rugby to be a strong sport, and World Rugby needs Australia to be a strong rugby country.
“There’s always a battle with NRL and AFL isn’t there, we know that.
“We need rugby to be a bit more prominent.
“I think we’re doing our bit, I’ve been to a charity lunch today, going out to coach the communities tonight, we’re trying to build the game up, a one-one decider.
“But there’s got to be equal effort from the other team too.”
Jones had a war of words with previous Wallabies coach Michael Cheika on his previous tour here in 2016, but was underwhelmed by the straight bat played by Rennie at press conferences.
“You can’t spar against nothing,” Jones said before the first Test in Perth.
“In 2016 we had Cheika here and there was a bit of niggle. It was good Australian sport. This time it feels like … I don’t know what it feels like. I like a bit of fun. When you’re sparring in a corner by yourself it’s not much fun.”
The Wallabies arrived in Perth and Brisbane the evening before each Test match, and have done the same for this Sydney match.
They make their press conferences available to media via Zoom. As part of an agreement with touring English journalists, the England team have done no Zoom conferences.
Meanwhile, Jones – who said last week his mother reads the newspapers and worries he will be sacked due to negative headlines – revealed her stern demand before this decider.
“She said ‘Don’t come and see me until you’ve won the game’. So if we don’t win the game, she mightn’t let me in,” Jones said.
“WE will make a statement”.
Eddie Jones was unequivocal. Not “we hope to make a statement” or “we will be looking to perform at our best”.
For the first time in rugby history, the four SANZAAR nations face series defeat on home soil to northern hemisphere opposition.
Two – New Zealand and South Africa - had never lost a game to their opponents at home until last weekend. Argentina has dropped behind Wales and Scotland in the rankings after the Scots levelled their series 1-all last weekend.
Australia, who have been the most unpredictable team in world rugby for the past decade, need to make their own statement against England.
After the tumultuous Michael Cheika era, it’s still impossible to know where the Wallabies are at after three years under coach Dave Rennie.
Sure, there have been noticeable improvements in skill and game awareness.
But their consistency is as up and down as an Owen Farrell midfield bomb.
They beat the All Blacks at the end of 2020, defeated World Champions South Africa in back-to-back Tests in 2021, but then lost all three spring tour games at the end of last year to Scotland, England and Wales.
After ending their eight-match losing streak to England in the first Test a fortnight ago, the Wallabies spent the following week talking about a better start in game two.
They were 19-0 down in Brisbane after 33 minutes. A strong second half showing could not recoup the lost ground, and they suffered their ninth defeat in 10 games to Jones’ men.
Squad depth is being tested. They’re missing 11 key players through injury and suspension for this deciding match at the sold out SCG, probably the final game the Wallabies will play at the famed cricket venue.
It’s time for the Wallabies to play a defining knock.
Jones wasn’t talking about a northern collective this week, as the south faces uncharted consequences.
“I don’t work as a cartier for the northern hemisphere, we’re England, we want to be England, we stand by ourselves,” said Jones, before it was put to him that this was an opportunity to make a statement.
“We will make a statement,” was Jones’ swift reply.
Wallabies captain Michael Hooper can appreciate what is on the line for his players, particularly building up to a World Cup in 14 months’ time.
“I think it’s a great position to be in because for the squad, the guys who are in the environment, pressure games, it’s kind of like knockout this situation,” Hooper said.
“It’s good to be a part of it in terms of the learnings that we‘ll get out of it.
“It’s just there to execute now, and we’ll take confidence out of it for sure in what we’ve done this week, and then leading into the game – we’re happy with our preparation.
“We’re a resilient bunch. We’ve been able to get ourselves back into both games winning the first and getting close there last week. We want a more complete game. Start better. We don’t think we’ve played as well as we can.
“We think we’re a better team than what we’ve shown so far.”
Jones entered the series with the most pressure of any head coach.
But that pressure has now shifted to All Blacks boss Ian Foster, who has lost three of his past four games, unheard of results in modern times.
The All Blacks lost their first ever home Test to Ireland last weekend.
While they had a man sent off, Ireland played brilliant, tough, attacking rugby to win 23-12 – their fourth victory in seven games over the Kiwis, after 111 years of winless heartache.
Similarly, Wales had never beaten the Springboks in South Africa until last weekend.
The 13-12 win in Bloemfontein was a steel rebound from the week prior, when the Boks kicked a penalty at full-time to win 32-29.
And Cheika, now coaching Argentina, pulled off an impressive 26-18 win over Scotland in the first Test, before the visitors comprehensively won 29-6 last weekend.
Never have four northern nations come down south and walked away with series wins.
The fact this is possible entering this weekend – regardless of the ensuing results – ensures the 2023 World Cup will be as wide open as any.
Hosts France will deservedly enter as favourites. They’ve been the best team in the world for the past two years.
But behind them, there is a logjam of incredibly talented but flawed teams who can all beat any opponent on their day – Australia included.
Jones has guaranteed an English statement.
The Wallabies can’t afford to read it.
Within the north-south narrative, there is a good Australian team waiting to come out.
The Wallabies have won two World Cups, in 1991 and 1999.
In the year prior to each, they won their June home series against France 2-1 (1990) and in 1998 trounced England 76-0 before defeating Scotland twice.
If you can’t win at home, you won’t win away.
WORLD RUGBY RANKINGS
- France
- Ireland
- South Africa
- New Zealand
- England
- Australia
- Scotland
- Wales
- Argentina
- Japan
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