Eddie Jones has warned he is producing a Rassie Erasmus-style video rant after being left confused by late decisions made by the referee in England’s Six Nations opening-round loss to Scotland.
England once again started a Six Nations campaign with a loss as Gregor Townsend’s Scotland came from seven points behind to win 20-17 in Edinburgh on Saturday night.
The visitors to have taken control of the match when Marcus Smith scored a try and a penalty in the second half, but Scotland were then awarded a penalty try before Finn Russell converted what turned out to be the match-winning penalty.
The England coach was left infuriated as he felt referee Ben O’Keeffe did not reward their late scrum dominance, as Scotland held on to secure the victory.
“I’m just preparing a video mate, so you’ll have to wait for it,” Jones told the Daily Mail after the match. “Wait for the video mate — we’ve got the production team on it now. It’s called “Rassie in Love With”. That’s my production team, so I’m getting it ready mate.
“Three points at the end [were on offer], so the referee becomes pretty influential in those situations.”
Jones’ comments were a reference to SA Rugby director Rassie Erasmus’ infamous 62-minute video in which he criticised decisions made by referee Nic Berry during the first Test between the Springboks and British & Irish Lions last year.
The video earned Erasmus a two-month ban from all rugby activities, which he completed this year, but he is still to serve a ban from matchday activities until October.
Jones was not the only one who felt hard done by as England skipper Tom Curry also revealed his frustration.
“I felt we had dominance,” Curry said. “We’ve got to look at the footage and we’ll see.”
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