Censure England if guilty: Jones

Wallabies coach Eddie Jones says England officials should be censured if found in the wrong after their team fielded a 16th man in the Rugby World Cup win over Samoa.

RWC organisers are investigating the incident at Telstra Dome in which England had an extra player on the field for about 34 seconds late in the second half of their thrilling 35-22 win over Samoa.

English officials reportedly ignored a call from the touchline official not to send replacement Dan Luger onto the field while centre Mike Tindall was down being treated for an injury.

Asked about the incident during a press conference in Melbourne, Jones said with a smile: "I hope they're punished for it."

Jones, who has been involved in several verbal battles with English coach Clive Woodward over the past year, said he was sure England hadn't set out to break the rules on substitutions and also admitted Australia had probably gone close at times in the past.

But, while all teams liked to "stretch things to the limit," to get players onto the field quickly, he said protocols still needed to be followed.

"It's very important that teams do follow protocol because you wouldn't want a game such as last night, which was a terrific contest spoilt by something as silly as that," Jones said.

Asked about possible censure if the England officials were in the wrong, Jones agreed.

"I think definitely their ground officials should be censured, they should be reprimanded for not following the instructions of the officials, I think that would be the most sensible recourse for that situation.

"It's a very serious situation, we'd love to ignore those officials sometimes and get players on the field quicker but you've got to play by the laws and the regulations in place ... it's important that teams do follow those regulations," said Jones.

As for specific punishment for the incident Jones wouldn't bite.

"I'll leave it up to the IRB," he said.