Jones and Cheika add another layer to England-Australia rivalry

Saturday will see the 2016 Old Mutual Wealth Series culminate in a renewal of the infamous English-Australian sporting rivalry, yet even with days still to go before both sides run out onto the field at Twickenham, tensions have already begun to boil over.

It was perhaps inevitable, given that both the English and Australian union sides are headed by two abrasive ex-Wallaby forwards in Eddie Jones and Michael Cheika, that a level of bad blood would permeate Saturday’s clash, especially following Australia’s 3-0 humbling on home soil at the hands of England over the summer. That clinical series victory, coming immediately off the back of a Grand Slam finish in his maiden Six Nations, has helped vindicate Jones – who coached the Australian national team between 2001 and 2005 – as England’s larrikin overseer of the form side in international rugby, as he looks to orchestrate their fourteenth consecutive test victory on Saturday against his former employer.

Australia under Cheika, meanwhile, have rebounded somewhat from their ignominious performance against England back in June. Last weekend’s narrow 27-24 loss to Ireland saw the Wallabies drop their first game of their Northern Hemisphere tour at the fourth attempt having previously recorded impressive victories over Wales (32-8), Scotland (23-22) and France (25-23) over the last month. However, it will be their showing against England on Saturday that will affirm the level to which the side have moved past a tumultuous rebuilding year that saw them finish extremely distant runners-up to New Zealand in The Rugby Championship and the aforementioned humiliation on home soil.

And the mind games ahead of this weekend’s clash began in earnest immediately after England’s 27-14 victory over Argentina last Saturday. In his post-match conference, Jones appeared to attempt to heap further pressure on the Wallabies by publicly outlining his desire to meet with referee Jaco Peyper to address issues surrounding the Australian scrum which came under significant pressure in their victory over France a fortnight ago.

“I am very keen to have a chat to the referee about the Australian scrummaging,” Jones said.

“They have got some issues with the way that they scrum so we need to have a meeting with the referee and we will invite the Australian coaching staff to come along.

“We will submit an agenda and make sure that everything is above board. They were penalised four times in a row against France so they have got some technical issues.”

Unsurprisingly, Cheika – a former teammate of Jones at Randwick – replied in kind:

“[Jones] was having a crack and he wants to talk about our scrum because we’re cheating, I think an important thing to note is he’s got to look at his own players. Because they are the ones [with] a prop with a yellow card” Cheika said in reference to England’s Dan Cole who was sin-binned against Argentina.

“That same prop’s been infringing the law since his career started probably, if not all of this year. It will be up to the referee as to who he believes; if he wants to be influenced by the other chap, that we are the ones scrumming illegally when they are the guys who have the yellow card against them, then it is really up to him.

“All we do is scrum square and try to get as much weight as possible. It is very obvious from the clips, if you want to watch them instead of the all vitriol, they will tell you the story.”

And Cheika did not shy away from Jones’ invitation to join his prospective meeting with Jeco Peyper:

“How can I refuse an invitation like that? It is funny how your tune changes. In the summer when we asked for those meetings, he was blowing up and he stormed out of one.”

The animosity between Jones and Cheika is nothing new. During England’s tour in June, Jones accused the Australian media of disrespecting his team and claimed the lengthy bag search he endured upon arrival in Brisbane was part of a premediated Australian plan to aid the Wallabies in the first test.

Cheika at the time refused to be drawn into a war of words, prompting New Zealand coach Steve Hansen to claim Cheika was being ‘bullied’ by Jones. However, Cheika has since come out in response, indicating, at least before Tuesday, he was still reticent to employ the same psychological tricks as Jones:

“In June, maybe I gave the opportunity to see how a former Australian would deal with it. It was a bit like a goal-scorer who scores against his old team. I suppose it is always difficult where you go back against a team you have coached before and don’t know how to play it,” he said.

“Do you stay reserved or get stuck into them? I know what I would do. But that’s the choice he makes if he thinks it’s best for his team.”

Regardless of how Jones and Cheika’s indirect confrontation off the field concludes; it will be their respective sides’ performances on Saturday which will ultimately declare one or the other the victor. And in a game already laden with symbolism between two historic sporting rivals set to renew niceties for the 48th time, the latest verbal skirmish between two of the most vociferous figures in world rugby has added a deliciously tasty undercurrent to the pick of this year’s autumn international fixtures..