Eddie Jones has urged England to “physically dominate” Australia on Saturday, insisting his side will do so legally, and has claimed their four-match winning streak against the Wallabies will be preying on his compatriots’ minds.

Jones refused to bite on claims from his opposite number, Michael Cheika, that England will go after Australia’s half-backs, responding only with “we play the game legally”. He did, however, suggest his side’s winning run against the Wallabies will have a bearing on Saturday’s outcome. “They’ll have a bit of an itch in the back of their head,” he said. “When the game gets tighter, their memory will go back to those precious games. So that’s an advantage for us, that itch in the back of their head.

“We want to physically dominate them. They’re probably the most physical side in the world and we want to show we can dominate them up front. We’ve got to rise to the occasion. We’re playing against the best team in the world at the moment.”

Jones also gave short shrift to any suggestions England have an obligation to entertain when addressing the criticism that followed the lifeless display in the 21-8 victory over Argentina on Saturday. “Our job is to play good English rugby and to beat Australia,” he added. “There might be 80,000 out there and there might be 40,000 who find it entertaining and 40,000 that don’t find it entertaining. Our job is to win and play good rugby.”

If England’s victory in this fixture last year, as well as their 3-0 whitewash in Australia in 2016, has some bearing on Saturday’s match, however, so too will the Wallabies’ seven-match unbeaten run that includes victories over New Zealand and last weekend against Wales. Accordingly, Jones has recalled Owen Farrell to breathe life into a back-line that failed to ignite against Argentina but Maro Itoje is only named among the replacements.

Joe Launchbury starts to add some second-row ballast but Jones is relishing the chance to unleash Itoje from the bench. “We just felt that the benefit of him not playing rugby this week wasn’t there,” said Jones. “That we could give him what he needed to keep improving in terms of his physical conditioning.

“And he’s just so fresh and eager to go. It’s like he’s had a pre-season, like he’s had a break. It’s like he’s been away to Barbados for three weeks. He’s really ready to go.”

Dylan Hartley, meanwhile, has called on his side to help kickstart the Ashes with an England win against Australia. England’s cricketers begin the defence of the urn in Brisbane next week and Hartley revealed he has been in recent contact with former captain Alastair Cook.

“I’m going to watch the Ashes, I want England to win the Ashes, I want us to beat Australia, it’s important [that we do],” Hartley said.

“We’re not motivated or affected by external noise. It’s nothing to us, we want to win, we want to play a good game of rugby, we want to play good wining rugby. First and foremost winning – that’s the key thing there.”

England: A Watson (Bath); J May (Leicester), J Joseph (Bath), O Farrell (Saracens), E Daly (Wasps); G Ford (Leicester), B Youngs (Leicester); M Vunipola (Saracens), D Hartley (Northampton, capt), D Cole (Leicester), J Launchbury (Wasps), C Lawes (Northampton), Robshaw (Harlequins), S Underhill (Bath), N Hughes (Wasps).

Replacements: J George (Saracens), J Marler (Harlequins), H Williams (Exeter), M Itoje (Saracens), S Simmonds (Exeter), D Care (Harlequins), H Slade (Exeter), S Rokoduguni (Bath).