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.

“We’re both in Portugal, so I’m going to the airport now and buying a pair of binoculars,” said Jones.

It wasn’t to be the first barb from the Australian in the build-up to the Aviva Stadium sell-out, with World Player of the Year Johnny Sexton his target last week, suggesting he receives preferential treatment from referees, who wait on the other end of Sexton’s “bat phone”.

That was a matter the Ireland head coach brushed aside yesterday by saying he wanted one too, while Jones’s suggestion he was considering back-three star Jack Nowell as a flanker led Schmidt to add: “You want to keep the opposition guessing. Eddie does a good job of it.”

Yet, there was an underlying seriousness about the literal size of the task Ireland will face when the English roll into town looking to avenge last March’s Twickenham defeat when they saw their rivals secure the grand slam in grand style.

“We wouldn’t have the same size of players, so it could be a point of difference for them,” said Schmidt, referring to the backline bulk Jones could select in 17-stone monsters Manu Tuilagi, fellow centre Ben Te’o and wing Joe Cokanasiga.

“Eddie is a really good strategist. He used the phrase ‘you have to go to Ireland and bring a brutality’. A couple of guys they have would bring a brutality that is hard to contain.

“They did taper in the Six Nations last year and that would have been a frustrating thing for them. They will be driven to rebound well. They did that in November and were probably lucky not to go through unbeaten. They have a few guys back fresh and playing well.

“Manu Tuilagi did well against Ulster, Billy and Mako Vunipola are back and they are pretty big players. Eddie has a few decisions to make. We will try to combat that as well as we can.”

When asked for his take on Schmidt’s mention of brutality, Jones retorted: “I think he might be talking about his own team. I’ve never seen a Six Nations game that was not brutal.

“Traditionally, if you look at Six Nations history over the years, it’s a big gainline contest. Ball-in-play is higher in the Six Nations than any other tournament in the world. You’ve got to be prepared for it.

We’ll be prepared, and I’m sure Ireland are not over there in Portugal sunbathing. They’ll be preparing for a tough old contest.

Jones admitted that last year’s 24-15 home defeat, when his side were consigned to a fifth-place finish as Ireland celebrated their Grand Slam in England’s backyard, had been painful.

“You learn from it. When you lose, it’s painful. The coaching staff and players all want to be at their best and, when you’re not at your best, it hurts. Then you get all the associated hoo-hah around it.

"The main thing is that you stay focused, you work out how you can be better and I think we’ve done a great job at that, players and coaches together. We’ve changed our staff, we’ve changed the way we train, we’ve changed in little ways our philosophy of how we want to play and I think we’re getting close to having the clarity we need to be the best team in the world , and that’s what we’ve always said we wanted to be. We’re not quite there, but we’ll get there.”