Schmidt 'disappointed' with England's 'sportsmanship'

The Telegraph reported on Thursday that England head coach Steve Borthwick, in his usual pre-match meeting with referee Nika Amashukeli, highlighted "dozens" of instances of Australia entering rucks during the Rugby Championship campaign earlier this year.

England refused to confirm the veracity of the report, and Australian captain Harry Wilson dismissed any such complaints as "quite amusing."

"It's a bit of sportsmanship," Schmidt said before defending his team's record on Saturday evening.

"To date, we've had 1,256 offensive rucks. Each of these has at least two players. That's 2,500 ruck entries."

"We received a yellow card. No one left the field injured as a result of our clean-out. We've never been penalized excessively for side entry."

"So I always find these things disappointing, but not distracting."

Wilson and prop Taniela Tupou were penalized consecutively for illegal entry at the breakdown in the opening five minutes. Two consecutive penalties moved the Wallabies from five meters from England's line to the same distance from their own.

Australia finished the game conceding a total of 13 penalties, the same number as England.

Schmidt said he didn't think Amashukeli was influenced by England's apparent concerns.

"No, I don't think so," he said.

"We have full confidence in the referee... I think the referee is a very experienced referee and he started refereeing the game."

England's opening tries came from two of scrum-half Alex Mitchell's 11 kicks, resulting in wing Tom Roebuck winning aerial duels, which Ben Earl and Henry Pollock capitalized on to score.

"Our players performed really well in the air, and I think that's something everyone needs to keep working on because those were two entry points for England into the game," Schmidt said.

"We don't want to make excuses. England were very, very good - the intensity of their aerial pursuit, the intensity of their breakdowns, and their ball carry. And the bench they brought in - six British and Irish Lions - that's their strength in depth."

Australia, for whom first-choice fly-half James O'Connor, lock Will Skelton, and Exeter duo Tom Hooper and Len Ikitau are tied to their clubs and unavailable for Tests outside the international window, play Italy next weekend before matches against Ireland and France.