If things were not bad enough for the England coaching team they have now found themselves in trouble with the authorities for an alleged breach of tournament protocols in having attempted to communicate inappropriately with match officials during Saturday’s decisive defeat to Australia.

According to some reports the issue arose at half-time when two members of their coaching team approached the officials as the teams were leaving the pitch and in a statement issued yesterday World Rugby confirmed that there is a case to answer.

“World Rugby is investigating an alleged breach by the England coaching team of the match-day communications protocol between match officials and team members or union officials during the match between England and Australia,” it read.

“The protocol prohibits certain conduct on match days including coaches approaching match officials during a match or at half-time during a match,” World Rugby’s statement continued.