Coming off the back of a defeat by a narrow margin against France, captain Rory Best and scrum coach Greg Feek spoke to the media ahead of Ireland's match against Englang in Twickenham on Saturday.
The Ireland captain admitted that while it was a tough defeat to take, the side simply wanted to get back on the field and try to return to winning ways.
Best was under no illusions about that task that lies ahead though, admitting that "there's probably fewer tougher challenges in world rugby than coming to Twickenham, but it's a big challenge for us and it's one we're looking forward to.
"We've had two weeks to prepare for it, and we've put a few things in place, a few players coming back, and that's lifted us".
When asked about the comments made by England head coach Eddie Jones that he would have no qualms about targeting Jonathan Sexton, Best was happy to play the whole thing down, declaring it nothing more than a "sideshow" to what would happen on the pitch.
"We have enough going on worrying about our own stuff, we didn't catch all of [the comments], we're not that worried about that. We have to look after our own stuff and make sure [...] that we are as close to perfect as we can be, because that's what you need to be against England. Everything else apart from the rugby for us is a sideshow."
Greg Feek added that the implication from Jones that Sexton was a poor defender was unfair, but that "you don't want to be distracted by that, and for us we don't target players, because there's not enough time in the game to worry about that anyway".
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