Australia head coach Joe Schmidt has accused England of “gamesmanship” over accusations about the Wallabies’ alleged illegal activities at the breakdown.
England beat Australia 25-7 in a hard-fought contest at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Saturday thanks to a late surge, with a bench full of British and Irish Lions having a pivotal impact.
The build-up to the clash, though, had been overshadowed by a report in the Daily Telegraph that England head coach Steve Borthwick had complained to referee Nika Amashukeli over what he perceived as illegal and dangerous clearouts at the ruck.
Wallabies captain Harry Wilson had rejected those suggestions on match eve, and his head coach Schmidt reiterated his side’s belief in their tactics — though admitted that he didn’t feel the furore around the claims impacted the contest at Twickenham.
“I think it is a bit of gamesmanship,” Schmidt said of the allegations. “We have had, up until today, 1256 attacking rucks [this year]. There’s two players at least in all of those so it is at least 2500 ruck entries and we have had one yellow card and no one has left the field injured as a result of our cleanouts.
“We haven’t ever been excessively penalised for side entries. I always find those things disappointing but not distracting. All we can do is focus what we do and try to do as well we can.
“We can have a look at guys with their hands down and if it is not one thing it could be another. We will have a figure in confidence in the referee. For all those incidents that were highlighted, ten were sent to referee and he did not even agree with them all. It was not the number of 40 which was said earlier in the week. I think the referee is very experienced and just got on and refereed the game.”
Schmidt admitted that England’s bench had made a telling impact.
“I think we were right in the game at 10-7 at half time and even leading into half time. I did think that the bench made a difference from England.They really did step up the level of intensity and the physical combat that they brought.”
