Gloves come off as England defence coach takes aim at ‘boring’ Ireland

England defence coach John Mitchell stoked the fires ahead of their trip to Dublin this Saturday by claiming that the defending Guinness Six Nations champions will “try and bore the shit out of us” at Aviva Stadium.

The former All Black, on the eve of his first Six Nations on Eddie Jones’s coaching staff described Ireland as the best side in the world but then described the successful components of the gameplan, including scrum-half Conor Murray’s box-kicking deployed by fellow Kiwi Joe Schmidt, in less than stellar terms ahead of the championship opening in Dublin this weekend.