Schmidt ‘disappointed’ by England’s ‘gamesmanship’

In the lead-up to the Wallabies’ 25-7 defeat at Allianz Stadium on Saturday, Australia coach Joe Schmidt claims he was disappointed by England’s “gamesmanship” with the match officials.

Steve Borthwick’s regular pre-match meeting with referee Nika Amashukeli was used by England head coach Steve Borthwick, according to The Telegraph, on Thursday, to draw attention to “dozens” of instances of Australia playing rugby in rucks from the side during their Rugby Championship campaign earlier this year.

England and Australia captain Harry Wilson described any such complaints as “quite amusing,” while England refused to confirm whether the report was true.

“We have 1, 256 attacking rucks,” according to the report. At least two players are present in each of those. That’s 2, 500 ruck entries.

There was only one yellow card. Our clean-outs have not caused any injuries to anyone who leaves the field. There have never been excessive penalties for side entry against us.

So those things are always disappointing but not distracting, so I always find that.

Wilson and Taniela Tupou both received immediate punishment for entering the breakdown without permission in the opening five minutes. The Wallabies were five meters from the England line when the back-to-back penalties caused them to cross the line at the same distance.

Australia totaled 13 penalties, which is the same as England’s total at the end of the game.

Schmidt claimed that England’s glaring concerns did not have an impact on Amashukeli’s behavior.

He replied, “No, I don’t believe so.”

Two of scrum-half Alex Mitchell’s 11 kicks in the opening game gave England the lead, with wing Tom Roebuck winning the aerial contests and Henry Pollock and Ben Earl winning from the run in.

Everyone should keep working on because they were England’s two entry points into the game, Schmidt said, and there was some really good work from our players in the air.

“We don’t want to make excuses; England was very, very good — their intensity in the aerial chase, the intensity of their breakdown, and their ball carry, and the bench that they brought on — six British and Irish Lions — that’s strength in depth.”