The England full-back Mike Brown has escaped being cited for kicking Conor Murray in the Six Nations victory over Ireland.
Brown had protested his innocence after making contact with the Ireland scrum-half’s head while trying to kick the ball free during Saturday’s 21-10 win, tweeting: “Video ref clearly showed I didn’t [do anything wrong] and kicked the ball.” The referee Romain Poite judged the contact was accidental, though Murray required stitches for a head wound. The citing commissioner agreed.
The Ireland coach, Joe Schmidt, absolved the full-back of blame: “I know Mike Brown wouldn’t have done it on purpose, he was trying to connect with the ball, but it’s not something for us to influence whether he was culpable for being reckless or whatever.”
Eddie Jones was more prickly when asked about the incident. “The referee adjudicated on it mate,” the England coach said. “It was fair. If ball is on the ground then you are allowed to kick it aren’t you? Was the ball on the ground? If it wasn’t on the ground then where was it? If you have been tackled then you can play the ball.
“The referee didn’t think it was reckless. Why should I give my opinion? If I say something about the referee then tomorrow’s headlines are ‘Jones complains about the referee’ so I am not going to give an opinion.”
