Wallaby coach says incident ‘understandable’

ENGLAND received support last night from an unlikely source as they found themselves at the centre of a World Cup investigation — Australian coach Eddie Jones.

Competition officials have asked England for a report into events surrounding Dan Luger's appearance as a substitute during the tense Pool C victory over Samoa in Melbourne on Sunday.

As the England squad arrived at their luxurious base on Queensland's Gold Coast, tournament chiefs were looking at why the joint World Cup favourites appeared briefly to have 16 players on the pitch.

And tournament director Fraser Neil has now requested a report from the England management.

Rugby World Cup have also confirmed a complaint made by England regarding the behaviour of a match official on "a related issue".

England were staying tight-lipped on the matter yesterday, not wishing to preempt any findings from World Cup bosses.

But while Wallabies boss Jones believes that England's ground officials on duty at Telstra Dome should be reprimanded, he also sympathises with their plight.

"I think we all like to stretch protocol to the limit and get players on as quickly as we can, but it is very important teams do follow protocol," he said. "You wouldn't want a game such as last night's, which was a terrific contest, spoilt by something as silly as that.

"I think their ground officials should be reprimanded for not following the instructions of the off-field officials. That would be the most sensible recourse in this situation. I think they should be reprimanded for it, and then you just get on with it.

"In the heat of the moment, you are always busting to get players on the field and make the change. We have probably come close to it on a number of occasions ourselves, without transgressing," he added.

Samoan assistant coach Michael Jones played down the incident on arrival at Brisbane Airport yesterday, claiming: "Mistakes happen. We don't want something like this to blight what was a wonderful game of rugby."

And Samoa coach John Boe confirmed there would be no protest from his camp.

Luger's late entrance as a substitute caused confusion on the touchline. The situation was quickly addressed and Luger was hauled off, but World Cup bosses will now make their own assessment.

Reports from the game's fifth official, plus the match commissioner former Australian international Geoff Shaw are currently awaited.

But it is highly unlikely that England will face any severe punishment. The most probable scenario is a rap over the knuckles, and there is no suggestion of points being deducted or a replay ordered.

England arrived in Queensland, relieved to have seen off a wonderfully committed Samoan side, who led by two points with only 15 minutes remaining.

"From an English point of view, we have been involved in two huge games the South African game and the Samoan game and no other side in the tournament has had that," said head coach Clive Woodward.

"We need these big hit-outs and the Samoans are a good team, and I am sure the English will be highly criticised for their performance last night, but I think that when you see Samoa play against South Africa (next Saturday), it will all be put in perspective.

"In the end, we did score four tries to one, and we have a lot of work to do, but we would rather have these discussions at this time in the tournament rather than in knockout stages and get it wrong against one of the bigger teams.

"The biggest concern was the penalty count. We have got a professional referee with us in Steve Lander to see that we are on the right side of what is acceptable, and in the last two games we seem to have been way out of line. We will watch every incident very, very closely to see what exactly is happening."

"We have a fantastic record in England, and it is based on the fact that we play a very disciplined game and don't give away any penalties.

"Suddenly, we come to the World Cup and we have struggled a bit because of the ball we have given to the opposition.

"I am just glad that the team came through at the end, and we won through the sheer bloody-mindedness of the English team"

Woodward intends announcing his team on Wednesday for the final Pool C game against Uruguay next weekend. Will Greenwood might well feature, and there could also be first tournament starts for Bath back Mike Catt, club colleague Danny Grewcock and Leicester forward Martin Corry.