Ireland camp hit back at England manager Eddie Jones’ aerial jibe

Hansen congratulated the RBS Six Nations champions for retaining their title by overwhelming Scotland 61-21, despite seeing the All Blacks’ record of 18 successive Test wins equalled at Twickenham on Saturday.

But Jones, speaking at England’s training base in Bagshot, southwest of London, said: “We didn’t celebrate”. “We will give them the respect they deserve”.

“Today we got a chance to play rugby and I was really pleased with their efforts”. “History shows that winning back to back Grand Slams happens once in every 27 years”.

“Do we want to make the next step or start again from the bottom?” the Saracens No. 8 said. We’re in a great position and we’re being ruthless.

“They’ve done a tremendous job, they’ve equalled the record and could go on and break it this weekend”.

“We want that record”. In a game of rugby you have to kick the ball. That becomes part and parcel of it.

The Australian, yet to lose a match as England coach since taking over following the team’s lackluster first-round exit on home soil at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, added: “The exciting thing for us is that we’re only just starting”.

But with Ireland, he knows what lies in wait in Dublin: blind passion from those in green, fuelled by St Patrick’s Day weekend frivolities and a desire to gate-crash England’s Grand Slam party.

Centre Jonathan Joseph, who scored his second Six Nations hat-trick against Scotland, believes the current vintage will not buckle under the pressure.

“Last year we were nervous and I expect us to be nervous this year”, he said. “We’re creating opportunities but we realise that we need to be a bit more accurate, a bit more clinical to finish these off against sides against as good as the sides we’re coming up against”. Any time we lose we’re very hard on ourselves and we’re very critical of ourselves.

Shona Powell-Hughes’ then went over for a converted try, as Wales capitalised on a Peat yellow card, but Ireland did likewise when a sin-binning preceded winger Hannah Tyrrell’s decisive try – her second in as many games – with 17 minutes remaining. In reality, Ireland will be fuming after their defeat in Wales and England are expecting a backlash.

“We’ve spent eight weeks to be at our physical peak for this game and we will be”.

Saracens players were to the fore as England claimed two Six Nations’ titles and set up a possible three grand slams.

On the injury front, Wasps winger/centre Elliot Daly is expected to recover from concussion.