Johnson dismisses retirement rumour as ‘rubbish’

MARTIN JOHNSON has brushed aside talk he was about to retire after the World Cup final on Saturday.

At 33, the England captain will be the oldest skipper to lift the Webb Ellis trophy if his side beat Australia in the Telstra Stadium.

But when informed by a newspaper journalist that Leicester team-mate Austin Healey had predicted he would not wear the England shirt again, Johnson went on the attack.

“We’ve spoken a lot about rubbish being spoken and that man (Healey) is the king, isn’t he?” said Johnson.

“He just wanted to say something and you were the fool who listened to him, with due respect.”

It was said more in jest than anger, but Johnson did not sound like a man who was preparing to give his valedictory speech come Saturday night when he also dealt with Aussie taunts that his side could bore for England.

The back page of the Australian tabloid Daily Telegraph ran a picture this morning of the England team with hands in the air saluting their fans underneath the headline ‘Hands up if you think we’re boring’.

They also devoted columns of text to former Aussie Test players such as Russell Fairfax and Brett Papworth insisting England’s pragmatic style, which has seen Jonny Wilkinson kick 67 of their 77 points in their top-level matches against South Africa, Wales and France, was killing rugby.

Down Under it has been dubbed the ‘Six Nations Disease’.

“They’re here to win and they don’t care how they do it,” said Fairfax.

“But they’re killing the game with performances like Sunday’s. They’ve played like that throughout the tournament. They are so bloody boring.”

There were also calls in the Aussie media for the value of the drop goal to be reduced following Wilkinson’s six in the same three matches, including three against France. Johnson was not impressed.

“We got knocked out when someone dropped five goals against us in a quarter-final against South Africa in the last World Cup,” reflected the England captain.

“You take the points that are in front of you. Australia kicked five penalties on Saturday and scored an interception. They did what they had to do to win the game.”

Not surprisingly, Wilkinson, the world’s most prolific points gatherer, was not about to agree that the laws should be changed.

“It’s the way the game is. It’s part of the laws. Everyone understands that. We’re proud of what we’ve got here, but we’re keen to get out there and win and we’ll try to do that, whatever the cost,” he said.