Dark arts.

England boss Eddie Jones reckons they will be able to deal with Ireland’s “dark arts” in the scrum despite losing the services of loosehead prop Mako Vunipola this weekend for family reasons.

Ireland were accused of some questionable scrum tactics by Wales following their Round 2 win who suggested tighthead Tadhg Furlong illegally destabilised the set-piece on a number of occasions.

“We are lucky we are blessed with two outstanding loosehead props in Joe and Ellis, so we can recover from the loss of Mako,” said Jones.

“The scrum is the place for the dark arts. What one person sees as right another sees as wrong.

“The Welsh are entitled to their opinion. We’ll formulate ours and let the referee decide on the verdict.”

Luke Cowan-Dickie, however, was a little more outspoken in his comments.

“Tadgh Furlong is probably one of the best tightheads in the world at the moment,” he said.

“You could call it dark arts or cheating, but you just want to go forward.

“Some tightheads get away with certain things, some looseheads get away with things. Running around the corner, rolling in.

“Scrum-wise we focus on ourselves and the speed of the engage and chase after the hit. If the coaches want to flag something up, they will.”