Eddie Jones takes swipe at referee ahead of Wallabies’ World Cup opener

Eddie Jones knows the referee for Australia’s World Cup opener well — and couldn’t resist a dig at him before the Wallabies get their campaign underway.

Eddie Jones poses ahead of the Rugby World Cup France 2023, at Stade de France on September 07, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Eddie Jones has called on the referee in charge of Australia’s opening World Cup match to keep his whistle in his pocket and let the game flow.

Englishman Luke Pearce will officiate at the Wallabies’ opening match against Georgia.

Having coached England before returning to Australia, Jones knows Pearce well but couldn’t resist taking a swipe at him for sin binning Suliasi Vunivalu for an infringement in the warm up game against France.

“World Rugby is here aren’t they,” Jones cheekily told a new conference.

“I’m sure they’re here somewhere. They’re always in the shadows. They’ve got listening devices everywhere.

“Everything you say gets recorded and you don’t want any black marks against you mate.

“So to say a referee would favour one side over the other would be probably a black mark.

“The interesting decision against France was when Suli got sin binned for a legitimate action, but in the (English) Premiership, when you make a line break and you interfere with that breakdown, they deem it as an automatic sin bin.

“I’m sure that World Rugby’s had a chat to him about that. And that won’t be the case on Saturday.”

Wallabies coach Eddie Jones wants the referee to keep his whistle in his pocket. Picture: Getty Images

Jones was otherwise on his best behaviour at his final pre-game press conference, talking up his team’s chances of inspiring the nation the same way the Matildas did.

“We want to be a team that everyone in Australia admires, respects, they want to watch play,” Jones said.

“This group of young men have got the opportunity on Saturday to do that. For such a young team, the way they‘ve conducted themselves during the preparation of the World Cup has been absolutely first class and Will (Skelton’s) done a great job as captain, stepped in post the Rugby Championship, and they’re ready to go on.

“We want to be that team that is admired, respected and everyone in Australia is sitting on the edge of their seat and can’t wait to see this team play.

“It‘s not about me, it’s about what our players can do. All I’m trying to do is give them the opportunity to fulfil their dreams, and we’ve got a chance on Saturday night to fulfil a dream.”

Singing from the same hymn sheet, halfback Tate McDermott said he understood why Wallabies supporters would be discouraged by the team’s performances after they lost all five matches they played this year.

But McDermott pleaded for more patience, hunting that the Wallabies were on the verge of something special.

“Honestly, I don‘t read a hell of a lot from back home but any fan would be disappointed with an 0-5 record regardless of the team they follow,” he said.

Tate McDermott has pleaded for more patience from Wallabies fans. Picture: Getty Images

“I think fans want to believe in us but we haven‘t shown them enough yet, shown them hardly anything yet.

“So if you look at the trend with how Australians get behind World Cup teams — we saw it with the Matildas at the football World Cup — they had a pretty good run in but they started winning games consistently and until we do that, the fans back home won’t do that.”

Georgia recalled Beka Gorgadze in a revamped backrow to tackle the Wallabies.

Rugby Europe champions the past five seasons, the Georgians are currently ranked 11th in the world, only two places below twice world champions Australia, and not ruling out an upset.

“We are well prepared, especially for this game. We will try to show everything we have worked on,” Georgia head coach Levan Maisashvili said.

“In front of us are a team who are quite a strong opponent with their composition and their coaching staff. We consider everything and are ready to play against such a team.

“Our team are now in a state where confidence is quite high. It is more important what we do, not who is standing in front of us.”

Georgia captain Merab Sharikadze said: “Australia, they are a very strong team with some very strong players who are stars, but on Saturday we go into this game with the same confidence as we did last year when we played and won against two Tier 1 countries.“

Originally published as Eddie Jones takes swipe at referee ahead of Wallabies’ World Cup opener