Joe wise to Jones’ banter and brutality

Joe Schmidt and Eddie Jones may have spent the Guinness Six Nations launch exchanging one-liners at a distance, but the rival coaches both agreed that Ireland versus England will be brutal.

England flew to Portugal’s Algarve last night for a week-long training camp ahead of their visit to Dublin and the eagerly-anticipated showdown with last season’s Grand Slam winners. Ireland have stolen a march on them, touching down in Faro on Monday for the start of their four-day camp and English head coach joked yesterday he would be heading not to his own team’s base, but to Ireland’s for a spot of training-ground spying.