England vs Australia: Eddie Jones refuses to rise to Michael Cheika's barbs as renewed rivalry stokes the flames

The scene may be Twickenham and not the Gabba, the ball may be oval and not round, red or pink, but the spirit of the Ashes will be alive and kicking when England and Australia run out for this Saturday’s autumn international.

By all accounts, this is the main event for England. After last weekend’s misfiring 21-8 victory over Argentina, the Wallabies provide a significant step up in competition before Eddie Jones’ side wrap up their series against Samoa next weekend. Jones, a lover of cricket as well as rugby, will no doubt have a close eye on the Ashes series that kicks off next week.

Yet it was not Jones who sparked the usual war of words between the two sets of coaches. That duly went to his old sparring partner, Michael Cheika, and a man who he coached on numerous occasions during his spell in charge of the Wallabies in Stephen Larkham, the former fly-half now working under Cheika’s guidance.

Cheika’s words will not have gone unnoticed after he accused England of intentionally targeting opposition half-backs with late tackles, and it will have no doubt caught the eye of this weekend’s referee in New Zealander Ben O’Keeffe.

“Obviously they are a big side, strong, they are a very powerful side, they will try bully us around,” Cheika said on Thursday after naming an unchanged side from the one that beat Wales so impressively last weekend.

“Traditionally that's the way they game has gone. They try bully us at scrum, at the lineout and at the ruck – trying to get into it, niggle, trying to get into our half-back after he passes, the ten after he passes. There is so much footage of that. Wait for us to crack.”

Cheika added: “If you get away with it it’s legal isn’t it? We like to take the game to the line. There is always a danger of that happening when you play the game at the line like that. Just got to get back up and get on with the next thing and understand it’s going to happen.

“I have not seen the referee. I won’t highlight it to the ref, what’s the point? It’s part of the game. I’m not complaining. It’s what happens. You know that when you play the game at the line, you can’t let it get you rattled and you can’t be complaining about it or it carrying on. Just get up off the floor and get going.

“It’s all in your head that stuff. It’s not like it’s physical. You are going to get tackled in footy. It’s just a mindset of saying that is going to happen - so get up and get going to the next thing.”

When these accusations were put to him, Jones brushed it off, insisting that “I don’t have a response, we play the game legally,”

Larkham’s words failed to trigger a response, too, although the former Test fly-half’s comments were all the more surprising given that he played 39 times for his country under Jones between 2001 and 2005 – including the unsuccessful Rugby World Cup final in 2003.

“They've had a lot of close games that they've won so he's done a good job in that respect,” Larkham said of Jones. “But, if you look at the resources they have over here, he's probably a little bit spoilt from where he's come from.

“There's always going to be pressure when you've got pretty much unlimited resources around you. And what he's got now, I think the facilities are top-class and they've got plenty of resources in and around the team to make the most of the situation.”

Larkham later explained what he meant by his “spoilt” claim. “Their facilities. Pennyhill Park is pretty phenomenal and then just the amount of staff they can have, consultants coming in, squad sizes, players to choose from and support from the RFU.

“Anything they want, they pretty much get. I mean, not that we don't get that. I think the ARU [Rugby Australia] try to give us everything they can but there's not an unlimited bucket of money.”

Somewhat unusually, Jones was not interested in the war of words, although once he’s had time to digest the comments coming out of the Australian camp he may yet take a different view. Instead, Jones returned to his love of cricket and experience of the Anglo-Australian rivalry to put a different spin on the mind games.

“There's nothing better than an Australia v England sporting contest,” he said. “We've had it in cricket, the rugby league was on the other week and I watched that with interest. I'm looking forward to Saturday, it should be a ripper of a game. We want Australia to bring their best form to the game. We want to play against them at their best and see how we go.”

That decision to stay away from the headlines could well be due to the fact that he feels England’s preparation is best focused on themselves, given the size of the challenge ahead of them. The Wallabies are not the side that they were last season anymore, and Cheika has done well to rebuild them a second time – a fact not lost on Jones. With England and Australia second and third in the world rankings respectively, this autumn Test will mean an awful lot to the two head coaches, and if Jones prevails on Saturday night, he won’t care one bit what’s been said over the last seven days.