Rugby World Cup 2019: Eddie Jones scathing of World Rugby after 'ridiculous' Barrett red card

Outspoken England coach Eddie Jones has launched a scathing attack on World Rugby, after labelling the red card to All Blacks lock Scott Barrett as "ridiculous". 

On Saturday, Barrett was red-carded just before halftime in the opening Bledisloe Cup test in Perth, after making contact with the head of Wallabies captain Michael Hooper. 

Barrett became just the fourth All Black sent off in a test and his team went on to suffer a record 47-26 defeat.

Jones addressed Barrett's sending off in his press conference, after England's 33-19 win over Wales in a Rugby World Cup warm-up match at Twickenham on Monday (NZ time). 

Australia-born coach Jones criticised referee Mathieu Raynal in his conference, as he felt there were at least two similar incidents during his team's win that could have resulted in red cards.

Jones was referring to a tackle from Welsh halfback Aled Davies on George Ford, which brought an England penalty, and Ross Moriarty's challenge on Piers Francis.

"I thought there was an issue with the referee," he said. "We saw a red card yesterday, which affected the game.

"We need to get some consistency into that area of the game. In the World Cup, if you lose a player through a red card, as New Zealand did yesterday, it makes the game very difficult.

"I thought we saw two instances today where that could have happened. 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 will have games being destroyed by an inconsistent official making a decision on a law that's not clear."

When asked specifically about the Barrett incident, Jones unloaded. 

"I thought it was ridiculous. A bloke gets tackled, he [Barrett] goes to be second man in and his shoulder hits his head, and he gets a red card.

"We can't have that in the game. There has to be some common sense applied, but maybe common sense was applied today really well.

"But what I'm saying is that we need to have some consistency and common sense. I think it's really important for the game."

Barrett faced the SANZAAR judiciary in Perth, but a verdict has yet to be announced.

For Wales, the result ended a 14-game win streak and they also missed an opportunity to leapfrog the All Blacks to the top of World Rugby's rankings. 

Wales coach Warren Gatland, who will coach the Chiefs for the 2020 Super Rugby season, wasn't interested in dwelling on what might have been.

"It's disappointing in terms of the result, but it's not something we will dwell on too much," Gatland said. "It's about what we take out of today.

"There are things to work on and to address, but there were also some positives from today as well. We need to make sure that next week's performance is an improvement on today.

"Some people mentioned [going number one] yesterday - it's a nice accolade in terms of being number one in the world, but the biggest prize is in a couple of months' time in Japan.

"Whoever wins the World Cup will be number one."

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