Australians not impressed by Woodward's complaint

The row over Australia’s use of decoy runners continues to rumble on.

England coach Clive Woodward has repeatedly expressed his opinion that the Wallabies are being allowed to get away with legalised cheating by effectively turning the decoy into a blocker, who prevents defenders getting near a player with the ball.

Woodward cited Australia’s second touchdown in the opening game against Argentina, when Matt Burke ran in front of a pass heading for try-scorer Joe Roff as a prime example of the tactic, which he believes should be outlawed.

Pumas coach Marcelo Loffreda has backed Woodward’s claim and the International Rugby Board have pledged to look into the matter during their January conference while insisting the use of blockers is against the rules and should be penalised.

However, Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has shrugged off Woodward’s complaint and his assistant Glen Ella was equally forthright in his dismissal of the England coach’s criticism.

“We welcome Clive’s opinions and he is always welcome to express them,” he said. “Unfortunately for him, he is not refereeing the game.

“There were similar decoys used in other matches and looking at the opening game, I didn’t think we interfered with any opposition players.

“We were doing those plays in 1979 and nobody was complaining about them then.”

Ella’s views were backed up by Burke, who insisted he had impeded no-one.

“I didn’t see anything wrong with it,” he said.

“We didn’t take a player out. I pulled up and stopped. It is a legitimate tactic, it makes the defence make a decision on whether to stay with one player or slide.”