England coach Eddie Jones has slammed World Rugby over a lack of officiating consistency in the wake of Scott Barrett's red card in the All Blacks' loss to the Wallabies.
Eddie Jones believes Scott Barrett was hard done by in the All Blacks' loss to Australia on the weekend. Photo: Photosport
Barrett was sent off just before halftime by referee Jerome Garces for an apparent shoulder charge which struck Wallabies skipper Michael Hooper in the back and neck as the All Blacks were defending their line.
Australia went on to win the Bledisloe Cup Test 47-26.
Barrett was charged with a dangerous tackle by SANZAAR and was due to appear before the foul play review committee at 7pm yesterday.
Speaking after England's 33-19 win over Wales this morning, Jones said he was unimpressed with the refereeing over the weekend.
"In the world cup, if you lose a player to a red card, as New Zealand did yesterday, it makes the game very difficult.
"We saw, I thought, two instances today where that could've happened and I urge World Rugby, although I don't think they do anything at great pace do they, to get some consistency in that area because otherwise we're going to have games that are being destroyed by an inconsistent official, making a decision on a law that's not clear."
Scott Barrett sees red in Perth. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Jones wouldn't elaborate on what instances he was referring to in England's match against Wales, but said Barrett's red card wasn't justified.
"I thought it was ridiculous, a bloke gets tackled, he goes to be second man in and his shoulder his head and he gets a red card, we can't have that in the game.
"There's got to be some common sense applied. Maybe common sense was applied today really well, but what I'm saying is we need to have some consistency and common sense.
"It's important to the game."