Jonathan Joseph expects his England and Bath colleague George Ford to silence those who booed the fly-half when he was replaced against Wales at Twickenham.
Ford was jeered after missing six out of seven kicks at goal last Sunday but he had been part of an attack who outscored Wales by five tries to one despite being without seven players from the starting team in this year’s Six Nations.
“George was not great off the tee but I thought he played exceptionally well,” said Joseph, who has featured at outside-centre in all six Tests since Eddie Jones took over as coach at the end of last year. “He created a number of opportunities in attack for the players around him, as he always does.
“He was fine afterwards in the dressing room. We all make mistakes and it was not his day kicking for goal but he is an outstanding player. You see what he does in attack and the way he can manipulate defenders. It is a joy to play outside him.”
Jones is looking for England to be a two-tone team, one able to win the ball and use it profitably. Three of the tries against Wales came after possession had been turned over and Joseph warned Australia before this month’s three-Test series that the men in white will only get better. “It was a good win against a strong Wales side and showed the character of the players,” he said. “It showed where this squad is going. Eddie is steering us in the right direction and is exactly what we need. The coaches have put things in place but it is player-led at the same time.
“We play what we see and we make good decisions on the back of it. I like to think it suits my style of play and I enjoy it when play becomes unstructured, looking for mismatches and taking on defenders. That is a strength of a number of our players and we like to get the ball out wide. It is going to be good for us going forward.
“We know we have work to do ahead of the first Test against Australia and things to improve on but we are using the ball more effectively than we did the last time we played them in the World Cup with the licence Eddie has given us. We know we will be tested and that is what we want.
“They are second in the world and we want to be up there fighting for first spot. We are building and we are in a great position to go there and get a victory. Winning the Grand Slam was massive but we did not play our best rugby. There is still more to come from us.”
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