England Player Profiles

Jonathan Joseph

Key Facts

Squad	London Irish
Position	Centre
Age	21
Height	1.8m (5'11")
Weight	90kg (14st 2lb)
Caps	4

Two golden matches towards the end of 2009 added to the collateral of Jonathan Joseph, a member of the London Irish Senior Academy. They pointed the way towards his first England cap off the bench against South Africa in Durban last June and a starting place in the second and third Tests, soon after he had scored two tries in the record 57-26 win over the Barbarians at Twickenham.

His debut for the Exiles, at centre, brought a 12-11 away win over Cardiff Blues in the LV=Cup four years ago and a month later he scored two of the four tries for the England U19 Regional Academies in the 27-12 victory over Australia Schools at Lymm.

Jonathan was born in Derby and educated at Park House, near Newbury, the school that Leicester Tigers, England and Lions flanker Tom Croft previously attended. He went on to Millfield, having played for the Derby and Newbury clubs.

His most memorable match for England U18 was against Scotland, his games abroad include South Africa and Italy and by mid March this year he had played in 41 Aviva Premiership games and run in 13 tries. His best experience was scoring two against Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park in September 2010 and repeating the feat against Sale Sharks the following month at his favourite ground, the Madejski Stadium.

Jonathan began playing when ten years old at Derby RFC where his godfather Roxy Fearon coached him before he moved south. His mentors nowadays are London Irish Academy coaches Neal Hatley and Justin Bishop. His father Ivan appeared for Northampton Saints and the players he most admires are Elvis Seveali’i and Seilala Mapusua, who were with London Irish.

Versatility is among Jonathan's assets. He has slotted in at fly half and full back as well as centre and wing and his other club was Barnes. 'JJ' joined the England U20 squad in early January 2010, replaced the injured Jack Wallace of London Wasps and started the U20 RBS 6 Nations games against Wales, Italy, Ireland before playing off the bench against Scotland that year and doing so in the corresponding game at Newbury in 2011. He began the Grand Slam match against Ireland at Athlone, as he did when England beat Ireland and Scotland in the IRB Junior World Championship at Treviso in June 2011.

Former England U20 head coach Mark Mapletoft said: "Jonathan is solid defensively, makes things happen with ball in hand and is extremely coachable. He put his hand up and it was good to be able to reward that."