Irish won't use Jones' barb as motivation

Rory Best has insisted he will not use Eddie Jones' "scummy Irish" comments as part of his team talk ahead of Saturday's Grand Slam battle with England.

Ireland captain Rory Best.

Ireland captain Rory Best says writing off England at Twickenham would be 'madness'. (AAP)

Ireland captain Rory Best insists he will ignore any reference to Eddie Jones' "scummy Irish" comments as part of his team talk for their Six Nations showdown with England.

Ireland will chase just a third-ever grand slam with victory over England at Twickenham on Saturday.

England's former Wallabies boss Jones has apologised twice this week after a video surfaced on Wednesday, where he criticised Joe Schmidt's team and called Wales a "little s*** place".

Ireland's class of 2018 can ink their names into national folklore to stand alongside the Grand Slam winners of 1948 and 2009 on Saturday - and Best insisted that remains his side's sole focus.

Asked if he would use Australian Jones' comments in his team talk 11-cap hooker Best said: "No, no. Look it's not something we're focusing on.

"It'll be a massive game tomorrow, we're not worried about those sorts of things.

"A lot of players and people have done those private Q and As and I'm sure he didn't mean it to be offensive towards Ireland or Irish rugby.

"So if we start to get distracted with a sideshow like that and bits and pieces, it takes us away from what is important to us.

"And what is important to us is the 80 minutes of rugby in front of us."

England have suffered back-to-back aways defeats in the championship but Best warned: "They are a quality side, and disputing that would be madness.

"They've yet to lose here under (at Twickenham) Eddie Jones. And we expect them to do what they have been doing here, and that's produce a big performance.

"All this talk of backlash, for players it's not really important for them, for players it's making sure you produce the right level of performance."


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Source: AAP



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