England head coach Eddie Jones was in no mood to discuss the possibility of Mike Brown being cited over the incident in the game against Ireland on Saturday which left Conor Murray needing stitches.
In his post-match press conference, Jones was asked about the issue by journalist Pat McCarry, who asked if the head coach thought that Brown was lucky to stay on, having taken a few swings at Murray while he was on the ground.
"Well the referee adjudicated on it mate," said Jones. "It was fair. If the ball is on the ground you're allowed to kick it, aren't you?".
That lead to an exchange between the two, as McCarry looked to press him on the issue: "Do you not think it was a bit reckless?"
"Was the ball on the ground?", asked Jones.
"The ball was I'd say around a foot away from where Conor's head was", McCarry responded.
"Was the ball on the ground mate?", repeated Jones.
"No"
"It wasn't on the ground. Where was it? Had he been tackled?" asked Jones.
"He had been tackled, yes" replied McCarry.
Image: ©INPHO/Andrew Fosker
"Then he can play the ball mate. Are you allowed to play the ball? You tell me what the laws are".
"He took around three or four swings at his head..."
"Are you allowed to play the ball if it's on the ground?" interjected Jones.
"I believed it was reckless I was just wondering if you thought it was reckless" asked McCarry.
"Well, the referee didn't think it was reckless".
At that stage, a different journalist asks "so you're not going to give an opinion on it?"
Jones replies "why should I mate?"
"Well that's kind of what a press conference is about, you're asked for your opinion".
"You can give your opinion mate, the referee's adjudicated on it. If I say something then the headline tomorrow is 'Jones complains about the referee', so I'm not going to give an opinion mate".
After that exchange, Jones joked that "from this press conference onward, I'm putting a media ban on myself, because I don't want to do any scaremongering, or anything that offends the media or offends people's parents", a reference to the comments he made about Jonathan Sexton in advance of the game.
When pushed on those comments, Jones once again began to trade barbs with the press, saying "if don't say anything then you come away from the press conference and say it was boring. If I say something, then I'm sacaremongering. I can't win, so the easiest way is I don't come to press conferences".
When asked if he regretted mentioning Sexton's parents in his comments, he said "I don't regret anything mate, I don't regret anything. Why would I regret it?"
He also added that "Ireland said that he had whiplash injuries not me. Let's get factual about this".
Joe Schmidt also mentioned the incident in his press conference after the game, stating that he never tries to influence the process, but "that's something they'll probably look back at because Conor's obviously got stitches right next to his eye".
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