Thursday 1 December 2016 16:26, UK
Australia coach Michael Cheika could swerve a meeting with referee Jaco Peyper ahead of his side's clash with England on Saturday.
Cheika and England coach Eddie Jones, former team-mates in their playing days, have been embroiled in a war of words in the run-up to what is likely to be a highly-charged final Test of the autumn for both teams.
They have accused one another of making use of illegal scrummaging techniques and both coaches were due to meet with South African official Peyper on Friday to discuss the way the game will be refereed.
But Cheika hinted that he might not attend the meeting to let England "see if they can influence the referee that way".
Cheika said: "I don't know, we'll wait to see if the referee tells us what time it's on.
"I think they may have but I'm not sure as yet what the story is. Then we'll decide whether we're going to go.
"But I think we're probably just better off letting them have their own meeting, and see if they can influence the referee that way through having the meeting.
"I don't think there's anything I can do to influence the referee, so we're better off just maybe staying quiet and letting them have the meeting themselves.
"I don't know, I'll see how I go tomorrow [Friday].
"I don't want (Jaco) Peyper to be on top of it; he'll see the game how he wants to see it. I'm not telling him what to do. He'll interpret it how he wants.
"My responsibility is to get my blokes scrummaging right, and square, and doing their best to keep the thing up on its feet. So that's where my concentration is, on our guys."
