Ireland coach Joe Schmidt has effectively played down the "scummy Irish" comment made by England Eddie Jones, a remark for which the Australian subsequently apologised, as white noise that has had no impact on the national side's preparation for the Six Nations Championship Grand Slam decider at Twickenham on Saturday (2.45).
He was asked for his thoughts on an issue that has exercised some people but has received no traction amongst the Irish players and management. Schmidt said: “I am not exactly sure what they (Jones’ comments) were; I know there is a little bit of noise about them.
“They are not directly relevant to us to be honest. I don’t know what the specifics of them are; those words don’t impact on how we play or how his team plays and that’s our focus.”
He dismissed the notion that it distract his players ahead of the game. “I don’t think so. It’s probably at the stage of being boring which we don’t want to be described as but he bubble that does surround us out here (Carton House), it does mean that we can focus on the task in hand and not what someone is saying about is.”
Peter O’Mahony summed it up thus: “You are on the wrong page if you are looking for motivation from that stuff.”
Schmidt was also quick to play down the impact of Saturday’s assistant referee, Marius van der Westhuizen, refereeing an England training session in the build-up to the game. “That is a bit of a surprise. In retrospect people may think it wasn’t the best thing to do.
“I know Marius; I would have no hesitation in standing by his integrity. I don’t think it will affect his decision-making; we still have faith in him as an official on Saturday.
