I’ll no longer get ready for Eddie to call

JONATHAN JOSEPH has come round to the reality that at 29 his international career is over.

The Bath centre, who was a Lion four years ago in New Zealand, admits the hotline to Eddie Jones has gone quiet since he was excluded from England’s Six Nations squad.

The No.13 shirt he wore with style has been passed on to Henry Slade and the wing spot he occupied in the Autumn Nations Cup has gone back to a specialist.

After 54 caps and 17 tries, including two Six Nations hat-tricks, Joseph suspects the game is up.

“Eddie is the boss and he had his opinions.

His opinion obviously is that I’m not good enough at the minute,” said Joseph.

“I’m a bit of a realist and there’s not many players who drop out of that squad that get back in. There’s probably only a handful of players I could name who have managed to get back in so I’m not waiting for a phone call. Initially it was hard. It was the first time I’d properly been dropped. “The first week was quite tough. It is quite hard to take but you get back on the horse. “I’m still playing the game I have loved since I was a kid, I’m at a great club with huge potential so life could be a lot worse.”

The Lions squad is named on Thursday but he suspects there will be no repeat of exhilaration of seeing name revealed in 2017.

“I’ve not even thought about that in all honesty,” said Joseph. “It’s quite hard to make it on the Lions if you’re not being selected for your international team.

“I know a few players have done it but it’s very tough so I’m not waiting by the phone for that one either.”

So for the first time since he joined the club from London Irish in 2013 his attention is solely on Bath, and landing an elusive first trophy with the his them. He is two games away in the European Challenge Cup as Montpellier pitch up at The Rec for tonight’s semi-final.

Joseph added: “These games don’t come around often. Being at Bath now for eight years, this club means a lot to me.

“I have some great friends here and many are leaving. To win something with them and to mark the occasion would be something special. It would be very nice to do it, it is the only thing left really.

“It would mean

everything.”