"Are you questioning his integrity?" Jones on assistant ref controversy

World Rugby have made the decision to withdraw an assistant referee from the England Ireland game at Twickenham after it was revealed this week that Marius van der Westhuizen had been at an England training session.

When RugbyPass asked Eddie Jones about van der Westhuizen involvement in training at the press conference the England head coach defended the South African’s attendance.

“What,  are you questioning his integrity?”, the Australian said.

“There is no advantage mate, we went through World Rugby, which is the proper channel, so you are asking the wrong person?

We pushed and asked Jones whether the rules should change when it comes to allowing upcoming matchday officials into camp.

“Well you are asking the wrong person mate, you should be asking World Rugby.”

And World Rugby have reacted, by dropping van der Westhuizen for Nigel Owens.

A statement from World Rugby said: “World Rugby has confirmed that Marius van der Westhuizen will be replaced by Nigel Owens as Assistant Referee 2 for the Natwest 6 Nations match between England and Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday.

“The decision follows Marius’ attendance at an England training session this week. While greater dialogue and collaboration between match officials and teams (including attending team training on request) has been agreed by World Rugby and the teams, Marius should not have been involved given that he was a member of the match official team for the weekend’s match.

“World Rugby takes responsibility for this oversight and has taken the proactive decision to stand Marius down to avoid any additional unfair and unnecessary conjecture. Marius is an outstanding talent with a big international future and both he and his employer SARU fully support the decision.

“World Rugby has also clarified with teams that, in addition to the regular pre-match coach and referee meetings, senior elite teams will continue to have the opportunity to request that a member of the high-performance match official panel attends training providing that the individual is not a member of the match official team officiating that team at a later date within the current competition or test window.”