Schmidt laughs off suggestions England clash could be boring

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt has laughed off the suggestion that Saturday's Six Nations opener with England could be boring.

England defence coach John Mitchell claimed this week that Ireland will look to make things dull at the Aviva.

Robbie Henshaw has been preferred at full-back for the hosts, with Jordan Larmour on the bench and Rob Kearney left out of the squad.

In the forwards, Josh van der Flier is preferred at openside to his Leinster team-mate Sean O'Brien.

Schmidt insists he hasn't been paying attention to any of the English barbs.

"All I can keep doing is keep my head down and find the fine margins.

"It doesn't distract me because it is not immediately relevant to what I am doing."