EDDIE JONES vowed to dig England out of Six Nations trouble – but will not be lodging a complaint about blunder ref Pascal Gauzere.
With the title defence over, under-pressure Jones has to steer his side away from tournament humiliation, with favourites France up next at Twickenham.
Like in the 2019 World Cup warm-up in Cardiff, England lost as referee Gauzere stitched them up by not allowing Owen Farrell to get his team set after a break in play.
Red Rose coach Jones said: “We will dig in mate, it is the only thing we have got to do now, dig in. It is a great challenge for the team.
“It is going to be almost impossible for us to win the Championship, so we just have to approach the game against France as another opportunity for us to get back on the front foot.
“Some of our rugby was really good. Sometimes you play rugby and don’t get the result.
“Sometimes you play terrible rugby and you do get the result. We have to make sure we stick together and dig in.
“We have been through these periods before, every team goes through these and everyone is going to have an opinion.
“Some might be right, but we just have to make sure we listen to what is important and the important thing is what goes on in the team. We will get out of this.”
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Even Wales skipper Alun Wyn Jones said he had sympathy for Lions team-mate Farrell’s situation.
The 146-capped second row said: “The more I think about it, it’s tough.
“Ultimately we just play the game — it’s a tough one to be this side of the fence and answer. It’s a fine line isn’t it.
“There was a lot left in the game, if you remonstrate too much you get on the bad side of the ref. It’s tough as the opposition.
“People were questioning whether I should intervene. I get enough stick for speaking to refs as it is, I’m not going to get into it for the opposition.
“It’s a fine line to tread.
“Faz asked the question and probably rightly so. I think there were a few occasions where I tried to speak to the ref on our stuff and he didn’t want me to.”
England talisman Maro Itoje coughed-up five penalties and Jones will sit down with him when the squad are back together next week.
After wrestling back to 24-24 then blowing up in the final 15 minutes, Jones added: “Maybe our discipline let us down a bit.
“Maro is one of the best players in the world and he plays on the edge.
“Sometimes the referees tend to over-referee a player like him.
“There are areas of the game he needs to tidy up and he knows that. He’s a good boy. A good player.”
