Sunday 8 March 2020 07:54, UK
England head coach Eddie Jones has branded the red card handed to centre Manu Tuilagi against Wales "bizarre" and "absolutely rubbish".
The Leicester Tigers back became the first player in the history of English rugby to ever be shown a red card in a Five/Six Nations Test, when he was dismissed with six minutes remaining of Saturday's Six Nations clash for catching George North in the head on a cover tackle.
England, who were 17 points ahead at the time but already down to 14 due to an Ellis Genge sin-binning, were forced to play out the remaining time with just 13 men - during which Wales scored 14 points, with the game ending 33-30.
When asked his thoughts at his post-match press conference regarding the red card, Jones was quick to lambaste the call by referee Ben O'Keefe.
"I just find it bizarre," the England head coach said. "I usually don't comment, but I just can't see how you can tackle a guy.
"So, you might as well just say, if someone's tackled like that you let him go, because how else are you supposed to tackle him?
"This bit about where your arms are - what a load of rubbish.
"Manu [Tuilagi] was trying to kill the tackle, that's the only thing he was trying to do. Absolutely rubbish. So I'm sorry, I've broken my rule. I think there's no common sense applied in that situation.
"Clearly the guy is falling, there's a good chop tackle and Manu's coming over the top to kill the tackle and he's doing everything that he's supposed to be doing and gets red carded.
"Like, come on?"
With England's Round 5 clash with Italy in Rome now postponed due to the threat of Coronavirus, Jones and his players are unsure when they will be able to complete their 2020 championship campaign.
They remain in the title hunt, but need France to lose one of their remaining two fixtures - away to Scotland and home to Ireland - provided both go ahead as scheduled.
