It was an incident that happened right out in the open and should have played a pivotal role in the match but Gardner,refereeing his 100th Super Rugby game,and TMO David Conway astonishingly both missed it.

Swinton,you may recall,was red-cardedon debut against the All Blacks for a high shot on Sam Whitelock in 2020. Another playerwho had struck discipline problems against the All Blacks,Brumbies lock Darcy Swain,was selected in Jones’ initial squad but ruled out by concussion. On Friday night against the Fijian Drua,he was yellow-carded for a cynical foul,this the same player who last year conceded three yellow cards and a red.

He was replaced in the Wallabies squad by Queensland’s Ryan Smith,who was yellow-carded against the Hurricanes earlier this season and thenarguably cost the Reds victory against the Rebels when he illegally held back a defender who had little chance of stopping Tate McDermott’s late try.

Dave Rennie,the man who made Swinton and Swain Wallabies and chose Smith for Australia A duties last year,had a no-nonsense approach to “physicality”:“We’ve got men in our squad who,when they cross the chalk,we want them to become a different creature,aggressive and competitive.” Jones would surely subscribe to that thinking.

On the field,these players know no fear. Off the field,they are becoming more familiar with it,thanks to Jones’ mind games. But all three have been put on notice that their discipline is not up to scratch and Jones now has to find a way of keeping them aggressive and competitive but within approved limits.

Over the past week,Jones sent some fairly pointed messages to McDermott,Harry Wilson,Suliasi Vunivalu and Noah Lolesio to improve. They did. Now he must do the same but even more forcefully with the most undisciplined members of his squad. The World Cup itself might be riding on it.

An amazing draw – which sees top sides Ireland,France,South Africa,New Zealand and Scotland on the other side in the pool rounds – has placed Australia seemingly 160 minutes away from a third World Cup. If Jones is going to pull offhis “smash and grab” raid,he doesn’t need any of his players shooting themselves in the foot.

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