Friday 17 June 2016 14:17, UK
Australia will take the unprecedented step of attending England's meeting with referee Craig Joubert as tensions mount ahead of Saturday's second Test at AAMI Park.
Last weekend, head coach Michael Cheika came away with grievances about the officiating of Romain Poite during the thrilling opening Test, which England won 39-28 in Brisbane.
Now Cheika plans to take advantage of World Rugby regulations that state a team are allowed to be present at the opposition's eve-of-match briefing with the official.
Cheika will join Friday's discussion between rival coach Eddie Jones and South African official Joubert in order to seek clarity on issues surrounding the match and express any concerns.
To date, the option of attending has always been declined by opponents, but Cheika is keen to ensure Australia are not out-flanked by their rivals in alerting the referee to areas of potential concern.
The scrum is shaping up to be a key battleground after the tourists gained a crucial foothold in the set-piece in their stunning victory at Suncorp Stadium, to the extent that Australia have dropped props Scott Sio and Greg Holmes and second row Rob Simmons for the second Test.
Adding to the pressure on Joubert, who was also the focal point of a scrum dispute between England and Wales in this year's Six Nations, is the claim by former Wallabies head coach Bob Dwyer that the technique of prop Dan Cole is illegal.
In a game Australia must win if they are to prevent England seizing an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series, Cheika said: "There's a meeting with the referee for both teams, together. The English guys wanted to see the ref. As normal, as per the rules, we're invited along so we'll go along and have a listen.
"We didn't ask the referee for the meeting. The rules say that if you ask for a meeting, the other team is invited if they want to take up that opportunity. We figured we would. We didn't know about last week, so we figured we will this week.
"I don't think there is any clearing-up from our end after last week. We know where we went wrong and we know what we need to fix.
"We've got to be in the situation where we don't give penalties away and not even leave those things open to interpretation."
England forwards coach Steve Borthwick insists the Grand Slam champions have no issues if Australia are present, but stressed that it was uncommon for opponents to be involved.
"If that's what the regulations say, then it's no problem. I'm my experience it hasn't happened before," Borthwick said.
"It's a question for them though, if they want to come along then that's fine. Meeting the ref is standard practice - before the game each week.
"Craig Joubert is one of the world's best refs and we have every confidence he will ref the game and scrum well."
Watch our live coverage from England's second Test in Melbourne by signing in with your Sky ID and watching the action on Sky Sports 1. You can also follow our blog on skysports.com/rugbyunion, our app for mobile devices and iPad and our Twitter account @skysportsrugby.
By purchasing a Sky Sports Day Pass for £6.99 or Sky Sports Week Pass for £10.99, you can enjoy access to all seven Sky Sports channels and watch on a TV with a NOW TV Box or on a range of devices.
