Before a ball had even been picked up, Warren Gatland accused hooker Dylan Hartley of being a choker and a coward, while France boss Marc Lievremont claimed no one likes the English.

And ahead of Saturday’s Aviva Stadium match, Ireland wing Tommy Bowe has continued the trend, declaring the rest of the rugby world will be supporting the men in green as they bid to stop England winning their first Grand Slam since 2003.

But 25-year-old flanker Haskell says England are taking no notice of what is being said in the build up, instead insisting they will let their rugby do the talking for them.

“Does all the pomp and circumstance of a week like this affect us while we are in camp? No, it doesn’t,” said Haskell.

“Unless they firebomb the bus or come storming the hotel with placards it is an irrelevance for us.

“This is a grand final against Ireland at the new Lansdowne Road. That is all the motivation you will ever need to have.

“You want to go out there and perform and make sure nothing is left in the tank. What a shame it would be to go through this attritional Six Nations and play all that rugby to be left thinking about the what ifs.

“You are going to leave nothing out on the field because if you do you will spend the coming years ruing the day you didn’t put the effort in.”