BATH fly-half George Ford has declared England are "desperate" to complete a maiden series triumph against Australia when the rivals collide at AAMI Park on Saturday.

A 39-28 victory in Brisbane has placed Eddie Jones' Grand Slam champions on the brink of charting new waters Down Under and the Red Rose have now won five of their last seven matches against the Wallabies.

Ford, who is expected to be recalled at fly-half for the second Test in Melbourne with Owen Farrell moving to inside centre, is braced for a backlash from the Wallabies.

"Australia will be desperate because they will be disappointed with the first result," the Bath playmaker said.

"They played some good stuff in the first 20 minutes of that first Test and will aim to do that for the full 80.

"They'll bring physicality as always and will want to get one back on us, but we're desperate as well."

England's fourth win on Australian soil is among the greatest results in Red Rose history, but Ford insists they must not dwell on events at Suncorp Stadium if they are to close out the series.

"We're very happy with the win. It was great to get the series off to a win, but the attention quickly turned to this week," Ford said.

"We have another huge challenge and we know we must improve our performance if we want to get a good result. The lads are pretty focused.

"We've made sure we're professional in everything we do in terms of recovery and the review side of things.

"We spend a lot of time and effort looking at what we could have done better. We have to make sure we don't let the standards in training slip."