England head coach Eddie Jones looked ahead to Saturday's (28th February) Six Nations showdown with Ireland at his press conference on Thursday (25th February)

SOUNDBITE: (English) Eddie Jones, England head coach

(Q; what do you make of Ireland?):

"Yeah well they are the benchmarks of European rugby, they won the last two Six Nations, they've got a central contracting system so that they can bring players in, they know where they are up to, They've got control over their fitness. They're in a good situation. They've still got some of their key players there. Sexton is an interesting one there, they've talked about him having whiplash injuries, which is not a great thing to talk about, I'm sure his mother and father would be worried about that, you know, so hopefully the lad is alright on Saturday to play."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Eddie Jones, England head coach

(On Maro Itoje):

"We're really disappointed with Joe Launchbury not playing. He's worked really hard in the team and clearly he was our first choice at left hand lock. Now we're lucky enough to have Maro (Itoje) to come in, we've got Courtney Lawes to come in which shows we've got good depth. Maro is a work in progress."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Eddie Jones, England head coach

(Q; What are your thoughts on Joe Schmidt, he’s obviously a successful and well-respected opposite number?):

"Outstanding coach, the way he prepares the team, they've always got a clear strategy, they've had a clear way of winning games, they go out early in the game and try to accumulate penalty goals, pick up a try, they get 15 points and they try to strangle you and they strangle you through their kicking."