England coach Jones wants swift end to Erasmus video case

England head coach Eddie Jones said on Monday he has demanded a quick conclusion to the disciplinary action launched against South Africa director of rugby Rassie Erasmus to set an example to the sport.

Erasmus criticised Australian referee Nic Berry in a 62-minute long video released before the Springboks’ second Test against the British and Irish Lions in July.

Erasmus highlighted 36 clips which he claims show mistakes by Berry and other officials in the match the Lions won 22-17.

South Africa won the second Test and eventually took the series.

A date has yet to be set for Erasmus’ misconduct hearing but World Rugby chiefs are expected to make an example of him.

ALSO READ: Rassie Erasmus in hot water with World Rugby

Asked about the video, Jones said swift action was needed to quash that kind of public outburst.

“It should be dealt with quickly,” Jones told the BBC.

“We need to make sure that we have respect in the game because we are asking kids to be respectful to the referee and if they see examples of players or coaches being disrespectful to the referee it gives them an excuse to do it at their level.”

Jones did concede that refereeing standards could be improved if the officials worked better as a unit.

“The game is in a good place but we have to be careful and I think there are some issues in the game we need to look at very carefully,” he said.

“One of them is the diligence of the referees to referee the important part of the game well.

“Rassie made his famous video and I don’t think that is correct, but we need to make sure the referees work as a three a lot harder than they do at the moment to ensure that particularly at the breakdown we get what we need to get, which is a fair contest between contest and continuity.

“But there is an appropriate way to do it and that is being respectful to the referee.”