Former Ireland captain Keith Wood feels Eddie Jones' 2017 remarks about Ireland and Wales are "a storm in a teacup".
Footage from a sponsored event of the England head coach in which he said "scummy Irish" and described Wales as a "little sh*t place" emerged today.
"It comes across fairly poorly but I think in an awful lot of those public events that people are talking all the time and their kind of playing to the crowd that are there. I don't think that it can be taken in a kind of a... yes, it's a poor thing to thing to say but I don't think it was meant as a pure unadulterated insult," said Keith on Wednesday Night Rugby.
"Much and all as I don't particularly like Eddie Jones, I think this could be a little bit of a storm in a teacup."
Keith added, "It's a silly thing to do but it's not the end of the world either. I think rather than make too much of it, I'd rather get on and talk about the rugby."
The rugby this weekend is huge indeed as Ireland visit Twickenham hoping to win a Six Nations Grand Slam for only the third time overall and for the first time since 2009.
One pre-match talking point involves the assistant referee Marius van der Westhuizen, with the South African having been involved in England training, refereeing a session.
"Whatever about frustrating, I think the idea of having a referee train with you is excellent. But who in their right mind thought it was appropriate for the touch judge for the game that's coming up to be involved in the training session?" said Keith.
"I mean the lack of forethought both from the English side and from World Rugby's referees to allow that to happen, it's just daft and I think it puts the additional scrutiny on the referees and they're under great scrutiny anyway."
He added that although referees and officials training with teams does fallen within the rules, he feels, "I think there's a case for him not being involved in the weekend."
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