BRIAN O’DRISCOLL HAS accused Eddie Jones of “scaremongering” and admitted he relished the sight of the England head coach’s comments backfiring so spectacularly in France earlier this month.

Not for the first time, Jones’ attempts at mind-games backfired spectacularly earlier this month when he pledged England would use “absolute brutality” to defeat the French in Paris. They lost 24-17.

Now it’s Ireland on the Jones agenda. Four years ago, in the lead-in to that year’s fixture, Jones said Johnny Sexton’s parents should be worried for their son’s safety, because of the number of head injuries he had suffered.

Ireland legend O’Driscoll said: “Eddie says some things that overstep the mark sometimes.

He said something about Johnny Sexton and brought his mum and dad into it four years ago. That’s not benefiting or building the game – that’s scaremongering.

“We don’t want that – we’re trying to help the product, not hinder it. Sometimes he gets it wrong.

“I think the stuff about brutality is harmless enough – particularly when you get your backside handed to you after the game so we can all have a good chuckle about it.

“There are many different sides to Eddie. He is quite calculated with his words. There are certain things that are close to the edge.”

Brian O’Driscoll was speaking at the Laureus Sports Awards in Berlin.