London — Australia coach Michael Cheika described his rivalry with England counterpart Eddie Jones as "irrelevant" as he sought to deflect attention from their previous verbal skirmishes ahead of Saturday’s Test. It will be the fifth clash between the two Australian coaches since Jones took over the England job two years ago. Cheika has come off second best in all four previous meetings, three of them on home soil. The two are former teammates at Sydney club Randwick but traded verbal blasts in 2016 when Australia were beaten 37-21 at Twickenham. Asked by reporters about their reunion this weekend, Cheika said: "Mate, it’s irrelevant. It’s Australia versus England. That’s the only thing that counts. It’s not about fun with Eddie or anyone. We’ll have fun in our own camp and then prepare ourselves the best we can each day." One concern for Australia in the buildup to the Twickenham Test will be the number of penalties that the Wallabies conceded in Saturday’s 29-21 win over Wales in ...
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