The claim was levelled indirectly by his Wales counterpart Shaun Edwards this week when the latter called for a ban on the choke tackle.

“I think the choke tackle is very dangerous,” Edwards had said.

“To me it is a blight on the game that encourages high tackling. Everyone is talking about concussion, so let’s start with this.

“Does anyone think it adds to the game and makes it more exciting? What happens after a choke tackle? A scrum. Referees should let it go for longer.”

It was Ireland who trademarked the tactic in rugby union when they adopted it under former head coach Declan Kidney four years ago and Edwards has labelled it a blight on the game and a danger to boot.

Easterby did his best to avoid having to discuss the subject at Ireland’s team base in Kildare on Wednesday lunchtime, batting aside questions as to what he made of Edwards’ comments and then the use of the choke tackle in general.

The Ireland management have made an art of not commenting on matters “outside the team environment” but Easterby as forwards coach could not dodge one simple query that was put to him after all that wriggling off the hook.

“Do Ireland play dangerous rugby?” he was asked.

“No,” came the reply.

Meanwhile, Cian Healy is fit and ready to go this weekend for Ireland’s Six Nations clash with England at Aviva Stadium.

Healy came through 40 minutes for Leinster last Friday and a brief cameo for Ireland the week before following a lengthy injury absence.

“He has already had game time at the weekend for Leinster and be is building up his metres in terms of getting back to full fitness,” said Easterby.

“So, we are lucky that we have him coming back up to speed on what we are doing.

“He has made a really quick recovery from that injury and he has come back in unbelievable shape but we also have a player in Jack (McGrath) whose numbers are high in everything he does and we now have probably two quality looseheads that we can call on.

“It's a good position to be in and it's not in every position we have that.”