Australia to be part of England's pre-match meeting with referee Craig Joubert

Wallabies head coach Michael Cheika revealed that Australia will be attending England's pre-match meeting with match referee Craig Joubert ahead of the Melbourne Test.

As per the regulations of World Rugby, a team is allowed to be present at the meeting of an opposition team with match referee on the eve of the game and Chieka is looking to capitalise on it.

The purpose of the meeting is usually to address any concerns surrounding the match and it is normally declined by the opposition camp but Chieka has opted otherwise with Australia facing a must-win situation when they take the field for the second Test at AAMI Park after the defeat in Brisbane.

Scrum has been Australia's weakness for a while and it was once again exposed by England in the first Test at the Suncorp Stadium following which Chieka decided to drop props Scott Sio and Greg Holmes and second row Rob Simmons for the second game.

Earlier, former Australian coach Bob Dwyer and former Wallabies captain Phil Kearns accused England prop Dan Cole for scrummaging illegally in the first game which didn’t go well with Eddie Jones.

"There's a meeting with the referee for both teams, together. The English guys wanted to see the ref. As normal, as per the rules, we're invited along so we'll go along and have a listen,” said Chieka.

"We didn't ask the referee for the meeting. The rules say that if you ask for a meeting, the other team is invited if they want to take up that opportunity. We figured we would. We didn't know about last week, so we figured we will this week.

"I don't think there is any clearing-up from our end after last week. We know where we went wrong and we know what we need to fix.

"We've got to be in the situation where we don't give penalties away and not even leave those things open to interpretation."

Cheika further added that the 39-28 defeat to England in Brisbane will motivate his team to do well in the second game and remain alive in the series.

"Of course we want to bounce back. Losing hurts, it hurts a lot. There's no brushing that away and that pain still sits inside you," Cheika said.

"And that's why England want to win again because they don't want the pain of losing either.

"That's what drives a lot of us, the feelings you get after the game in the dressing room - the great emotions of victory and the pain and the hardship of losing. But you get over it and get on to the next thing."

Forwards coach Steve Borthwick admitted that England are not worried by the presence of Australia in the meeting and expressed confidence over Joubert's ability to succeed in the crucial game.

"If that's what the regulations say, then it's no problem. I'm my experience it hasn't happened before," Borthwick said.

"It's a question for them though, if they want to come along then that's fine. Meeting the ref is standard practice - before the game each week.

"Craig Joubert is one of the world's best refs and we have every confidence he will ref the game and scrum well."