BATH fly-half George Ford has saluted the centre partnership of teammates Kyle Eastmond and Jonathan Joseph, believing the midfield duo are at the top of the game.

Both Eastmond and Joseph scored in last Friday’s 21-11 victory over Saracens at the Rec, with their early season form seeing them mentioned as a potential England match-up with the November internationals coming up.

While Ford has himself conducted the Bath orchestra with distinction from the number 10 jersey, he agrees that the men outside him have also stood out in Bath’s promising start to the Aviva Premiership campaign.

“They (Eastmond and Joseph) are playing some of the best rugby they’ve ever played,’’ Ford told the Wiltshire Times.

“Last year, playing week in, week out together has really helped them as a partnership and they’ve created and scored a fair number of tries already this season.

“They’ve worked as hard as anybody this season and have really put their heads down to make sure they have been rugby-ready at the start of the season.

“There are always areas you can work on in your game, but to have these boys doing what they are doing in the backs is great.’’

After titanic match-ups against Leicester, champions Northampton and Sarries in recent weeks, Ford is not expecting any let up as his side travel to take on Wasps on Sunday (2pm).

“It’s a massively tough game,’’ added Ford. “You have to play at that intensity in every game in the Premiership.

“You have to be mentally and physically there or you can get turned over.

“We’ve played Saracens, Northampton and Leicester one week after another and it’s probably helped us because it’s kept that intensity in our game.

“To come out with two wins out of three from those games was not a bad result.’’

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