Schmidt on Jones: I enjoy the banter with Eddie because he's that irrepressible character

Joe Schmidt has played down rival Eddie Jones’s jibe about Johnny Sexton’s “bat phone” to referees, claiming he would like one of his own ahead of the Guinness Six Nations opener against England.

Last season’s Grand Slam winners Ireland kick off their title defence on February 2, at home to the English, the back-to-back champions they beat at Twickenham last March 17 to complete the whitewash, consigning Jones’s side to fifth place.