Eddie Jones reveals concerns over Australian scrum as mind games begin ahead of Twickenham showdown

Eddie Jones has called for a meeting with the officials set to take charge of England's final autumn international Test against Australia. The Wallabies visit Twickenham next weekend seeking revenge for that historic summer whitewash on home soil and hoping to prevent their rivals, who sealed a 13th consecutive victory courtesy of an ill-disciplined 27-14 win over Argentina on Saturday (26 November), from going through an entire calendar year unbeaten for the first time since 1992.

Jones, a son of New South Wales who managed his country between 2001-05 and was at the helm for that famous Jonny Wilkinson-inspired World Cup final defeat to England in Sydney 13 years ago, appears to have particular concerns over Australia's scrummaging. The Rugby Championship runners-up have made notable improvements in that area under the guidance of Michael Cheika, but they were dominated by France's pack and shipped several penalties during a recent thrilling 25-23 win in Paris.

Jones was riled by the Australian media's treatment of his team during their successful tour down under, labelling it "demeaning and disrespectful". He took particular umbrage with a promotional television video that mocked England's past failures and is not expecting their approach to change when Cheika's side, trailing Ireland 27-24 at the time of writing as their quest to complete a first autumn Grand Slam since 1984 hangs in the balance, travel to London.

"The Australian media last June was very disrespectful to us, so I'm sure they're going to be at that again," he told reporters in a press conference held after the win over Argentina. "So we'll be prepared for that.

"I'm very keen to have a chat to the referee about the Australian scrummaging. They've got some issues with the way they scrummage so we need to have a meeting with the referee. We'll invite the Australian coaching staff to come along. We'll submit an agenda and make sure everything is above board. So it should be fun this week guys. We're looking forward to it."

When asked to elaborate on those problems, he added: "Well they were penalised four times in a row against France. They've got some technical issues. I'm not going to sort them out for them. [Scrum coach] Neal's [Hatley] not going to sort them out for them."

England showed great determination and defensive fortitude to beat Argentina in a match that Jones joked was the equivalent to 10 dramatic episodes of long-running BBC soap opera EastEnders and resembled more of a basketball game with six cards produced by French referee Pascal Gauzere - including two reds for Elliot Daly and Pumas replacement prop Enrique Pieretto - and injuries/replacements leading to a constant revolving door of players.

Jones had no complaints regarding the dismissal of Daly, who took out Leonardo Senatore in the air to leave England facing a real test of their mettle with 14 men for 75 minutes. He also refused to criticise the reckless act of a player who impressed in an unfamiliar position on the left wing during last week's 58-15 drubbing of Fiji and was subjected to premature comparisons with Jason Robinson by his head coach.

"Look, he made a judgement error," Jones added. "We all do that. These things happen. Just get on with it."

Having already lost Daly, England were dealt a further sizeable first-half blow when Billy Vunipola was carted off injured. The Saracens number eight has been a colossal figure for club and country over the past 12 months and further demonstrated his quality with a crucial turnover in the build-up to England's penalty try. Jones will be desperate not to lose such an influential player for what promises to be a massive showdown with Australia, but conceded it was too early to determine the extent of a painful knee problem.

"He's in a bit of pain but we'll just wait and see. They'll do all the medical examinations and we'll wait and see."