Old foes.

One thing we learned from the recent Rugby World Cup 2023 vote, is that when the chips are down, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) can rely on England’s Rugby Football Union (RFU) if they need a favour.

As for the Scots and the Welsh, well we won’t go into too much detail, but lets just say they may probably didn’t get a Christmas card off the IRFU last month. In terms of the head coaches and the senior men’s team however, things are a little different.

England head coach Eddie Jones says he has a good working relationship with Scotland and Wales, but he’s not so sure about Ireland and Joe Schmidt. The Australian was speaking in relation to the upcoming Six Nations, and some of the upcoming training camps.

After the second round of the competition, there is a two-week break before Round 3, and Jones is eyeing up a trip to Georgia for his squad. He also hopes to work with Wales, Scotland and Italy, perhaps for some joint training sessions. But it seems Joe Schmidt won’t be getting a call.

“We have got a couple of fallow weeks in the Six Nations and we have plans. Tbilisi is a nice place at this time of year. It is cold and we could potentially do that. It has great red wine and the meat is good. They have a massive scrum and the strongest pack in the world. Babies there are born with beards.” Jones told the Guardian.

“We are just planning at the moment: we also have a good relationship with Scotland, Wales and Italy; don’t know about Ireland. We are looking at improving our training and getting a higher quality of opposition. And travel makes it tougher.”

Interesting comments. Is there a bit of animosity between the two, or is it simply because Jones sees Schmidt’s side as there biggest threat to the title?