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Eddie Jones blames defeat on failure to deal with 'emotional disruptions' of referee

Referee Pascal Gaüzère — Eddie Jones blames England's defeat to Wales on 'emotional disruptions' of referee - GETTY IMAGES
Referee Pascal Gaüzère — Eddie Jones blames England's defeat to Wales on 'emotional disruptions' of referee - GETTY IMAGES

Eddie Jones blamed England’s failure to deal with the “emotional disruptions” of referee Pascal Gauzere after a controversial record defeat in Wales ended their Six Nations title defence.

Frenchman Gauzere was at the centre of the storm after choosing to allow two dubious tries in the first half to the hosts despite there being clear evidence for England to question why the scores from wing Josh Adams and full-back Liam Williams were not ruled out - decisions that were branded “appalling” by former England captain Martin Johnson.

The first saw Gauzere penalise England just inside their own 22 and warn captain Owen Farrell to tell his side to cut out their ill-discipline.

Minutes later, Williams benefitted from what appeared an obvious knock-on from Welsh wing Louis Rees-Zammit, but even a review of the score ruled in favour of the hosts.

“It is what it is. We can’t argue with the referee,” Jones said. “The result’s there in stone and we’ve got to accept it.”

Jones added: “We’re probably trying too hard. I thought the effort today was outstanding. But it was a difficult game for us. We’ve got to be able to adapt to those emotional disruptions and officiating disruptions.

“Maybe they were tough calls, but we’ve got to be good enough to overcome that.”

Pushed on whether he would make a complaint to World Rugby about Gauzere’s performance, the England head coach said: “That’s not something to discuss today.”

Former Wales skipper Sam Warburton joined Johnson in condemning the performance of Gauzere, with the BBC pundit adding: “I would be livid if I was Owen Farrell and England.”

A shellshocked Farrell refused to discuss the incident after the final whistle. “That’s not for us to talk about,” he said. “We got our way back into it in the second half and didn’t quite finish it off. There’s plenty we can do better. There’s no point in talking about it now. That’s for everyone else to talk about. We’ll control what we can control.”

England conceded 14 penalties, five by Maro Itoje, enabling Wales to pull away late on, with their tally of 40 points a new record for the most they have scored in a Test match against England.

“I can never doubt Maro’s effort,” said Jones. “He gave away a few penalties but he’s such a good player and that’s a good lesson for us today.”

Wales meanwhile have recovered from a disastrous 2020 campaign in which they won three matches to top the Six Nations table, targeting a second Grand Slam in three years with matches to come against Italy and France.

“Some people are going to say [luck was on our side] and will say it’s been on our side for the last three matches, but you’ve got to be in games to win them,” head coach Wayne Pivac said. “England put a lot of pressure on us and came back each time we got ahead. It was a hell of a game and a lot of resilience shown by our boys.”

Asked whether he had any sympathy for England, Pivac added: “When you have that many penalties, one player had five I believe [Itoje], you’re lucky not to concede a yellow to be quite honest.”