'That rat poison gets into players’ head' - Eddie Jones' rant ahead of Ireland clash

England head coach Eddie Jones claims that his England players’ heads have been infected with “rat poison” as he criticised the media ahead of England's Six Nations clash with Ireland on Saturday.

In a remarkable outburst directed at the media critics, Jones said that he is constantly having to protect his squad.

One of the big changes to his side to face Andy Farrell's Ireland, Jones brought Elliot Daly into his starting XV to replace the injured Henry Slade.

The England boss acknowledged that Daly has struggled for form.

“Elliot’s had to dig down deep into himself and find the best of himself,” Jones said.

“His form wasn’t very good at the start of the tournament. We had a number of players like that, he wasn’t the only one.

“Elliot is an experienced player. He’s got 50 caps and he can work it out for himself. He has and we’re really pleased that he’s coming back to his best form.

“We know at his best he is a world-class player and we are anticipating that on Saturday.”

But when asked Daly's confidence had taken a knock, the head coach lashed out.

“I’ve never seen confidence walk through the door, so I don’t know what confidence is,” he said.

“Players might think differently, they might work a bit harder, they might work a little bit less. I don’t think there is any such thing as confidence, you either think rightly or you think wrongly, and the wrong time you start to listen to the poison that’s written in the media, that rat poison gets into players’ heads. We try to keep it out of their head. We try to spray all that rat poison that you try to put in and get it out of their head, so we are always working hard to keep it out of their heads. It keeps me busy, mate.”