Eddie Jones has responded to calls to drop Owen Farrell, conceding on Tuesday that the England captain had not been living up to his own high standards.
“That’s probably a fair comment,” answered Jones when questioned about Farrell’s poor current form.
“There have been very few players in our team who have been at their best.
“I think Owen is one of those, he knows that, he’s working very hard to get his game back to the standard that he wants and we want and there’s no doubt he’ll get back there.”
However, Jones has backed Farrell to recapture his finest form, starting with their trip to Wales in two weeks time.
He added: “For every player it’s different, look, it (Saracens) could be a factor, we don’t know,
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“There could be something going on at home, there could be something going on at his club that’s affecting him, we don’t know.
“He’s not at his best at the moment and we’re working really hard to make sure he gets to his best.”
Meanwhile, Jones offered injured Jack Willis encouragement, saying: ‘There’s no reason he can’t come back bigger and better.’
Three players who ‘challenged’ Eddie Jones and never played again
1. Danny Care
Former England start Kyran Bracken was the first person to reveal why the Quins playmaker was mysteriously frozen out of Jones plans in 2018 despite being a regular up until that point.
“He (Care) made the mistake of speaking his mind to Eddie Jones and questioning how he wanted him to play when he was playing with an England ‘B’ team against Japan in the autumn of 2018,” said Bracken.
“Eddie’s response to that was ‘that’s not the attitude I want’ and he binned him from his plans.”
This story was later backed up by England and Harlequins teammate Mike Brown.