The England hooker crossed the whitewash early on in their Nations Championship fixture at Twickenham

England hooker Jamie George's fired-up try celebration told a telling message, just days after defending under-fire head coach Steve Borthwick.

Ahead of their Nations Championship clash with Australia at the Allianz Stadium, reports of a rift between Borthwick and the England squad emerged in the media. The Times reported that some England players lost faith in Borthwick during the summer.

The piece alleged that players objected to Borthwick's treatment of them and that he was involved in a training ground bust-up with Ellis Genge.

It added that players had asked Rugby Football Union CEO Bill Sweeney - who backed Borthwick this week - to listen to their concerns.

Speaking on Friday, George had called the article "shocking", claiming there wasn't a "huge amount of truth" to it.

If that passionate defence was one thing, then his celebrations after scoring England's opening try against the Wallabies on Sunday were equally as revealing.

Having crossed in the early exchanges, becoming England's highest-scoring forward with his 18th Test score, a fired-up George screamed in delight at supporters.

"I'm really disappointed with the article that's been written," said George to Sky Sports this week. "There's not a huge amount of truth to any of it, really.

"I think the timing of it is shocking, to be completely honest. Releasing it two days before a Test match is always trying to be divisive, in my opinion.

"I think that we're all quite hurt. We have made sure that we aren't distracted by it, but also allowing us to be galvanised by it, in a way, because we want to defend Steve.

"We are all massively behind Steve in every way possible. I think probably, unfortunately for them, it won't be divisive and it might be quite galvanising for us."

He added: "We had to address it. I spoke to [captain] Maro [Itoje] last night. I don't like elephants in rooms.

"I just think that everything is much better out in the open. And we did exactly that. Maro spoke brilliantly, opened it up. George Ford then spoke brilliantly. It's done now.

"We're upset by it. We are disappointed with it.

"At the same time, we're seeing it for what it is and understanding that we've got a really important role to step up now and look after Steve in every way that we know how.

"The best way to do that is by putting out a brilliant performance on Sunday."