Eddie Jones has delivered a withering response to Warren Gatland’s suggestion that England might already have played their World Cup final.
Gatland sparked a war of words with his England counterpart after Wales were beaten in their semi-final by South Africa.
“We have seen in previous World Cups that teams sometimes play their final in semi-finals and don’t always turn up for a final,” said the Kiwi.
“So it will be interesting to see how England are next week.”
Jones was not about to take that sitting down and fired back: “Send my best wishes to Warren, I hope he enjoys the third-fourth place match.”
Wales pay New Zealand in Friday’s Bronze final - the match that no team wants to play in - before England and South Africa meet to decide who are champions of the world.
Jones was in ebullient mood as he welcomed scrum-half Ben Spencer to the squad as an emergency replacement for Willi Heinz - then revealed that try machine Jonny May should be fit to tackle the Boks.
“We had a walk through this morning and we had to tell Jonny to slow down a bit,” he said.
“He is probably in better condition that he was last week at this stage. Immeasurably better.
“We have got a few others carrying bumps and bruises because it was a tough old game.
“Owen (Farrell) is a bit sore but he will be fine."
