Tom Curry insists England remain unified in the face of a disappointing Guinness Six Nations as they prepare to navigate two challenging final rounds.
England's title defence ended with their defeat by Wales in Cardiff last month and with difficult fixtures against France and Ireland to come, they are on a mission to rescue their championship from disaster.
Eddie Jones has been criticised for letting the team stagnate since reaching the 2019 World Cup final but Curry insists progress has been made.
"A couple of games don't define you as a team, don't define what you've done or don't define where you're going," the Sale flanker said.
"Sport is sport and so is life. It's never going to be up all the way up, it's never going to be perfect.
"The mark of where a team is, and the feeling we have as a team, is how much growth we have and how much excitement we can get from times like this.
"Of course people outside aren't going to understand how we are in camp. It's a Covid bubble, it's pretty secure, no one's coming in, no one's coming out.
"So it's going to be tough for people to understand how tight-knit this group is and how excited we are, moving forward.
"I can accept that, I understand why people are feeling like that, but it's not true. And all that matters is that we know that."
England are desperate to address the costly indiscipline that has conceded an average of 13.6 penalties per game so far in this Six Nations.
"Put the table aside, this game couldn't have come at a better time," said Curry ahead of Saturday's Twickenham showdown with France.
"We have ability to have an unbelievably exciting game and being able to learn and adapt and probably fix things. It is nothing that we are not excited about."
