Eddie Jones backs two referees move

Editor

England head coach Eddie Jones believes the possibility of two referees could come to fruition in the future due to rugby’s increased intensity.

Jones was speaking following a bruising Test against South Africa in which Owen Farrell’s tackle has been the subject of the post-match.

Australian referee Angus Gardner went to his television match official but ultimately made a call that the tackle was legal and blew for full-time. That has since sparked plenty of debate amongst the coaches, ex-players and supporters with Jones having one possible solution to such issues.

“I just think the game’s getting more intense. All the data shows that,” Jones told Sky Sports, with his team facing New Zealand this week.

“The game went for 100 minutes on the weekend with 39 minutes of ball in play. So there was 61 minutes where the players could recover, adding to the intensity of the hits, the quickness of the contact.

“We are asking one referee to do it the way they did it when blokes like me were playing – jogging around the field basically. And he’s still doing the same job.

“So I think the referees are doing a great job. At some stage in the future, probably not in my time, they may have to look at two referees on the field. They do it in rugby league in Australia.”

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