Honeymoon over as Johnson feels heat

MARTIN JOHNSON faces the ultimate leadership test just three active weeks into his tenure as he attempts to scrape England off the floor in time to face the mighty New Zealand.

England were crushed in record fashion by South Africa at Twickenham and Johnson reported a dressing room left “desolate” by the 42-6 defeat.

Now come the All Blacks. The top-ranked team in world rugby are chasing an historic third Grand Slam tour having seen off a valiant Welsh effort with one electric 20-minute spell.

Awakenings do not come much ruder than this for a man who was hired to lead England despite having no senior coaching or management experience.

Typically, Johnson refused to shy away from the challenge, though he did admit there is a danger some of his younger players could be scarred by yesterday’s defeat.

The likes of Danny Cipriani spring immediately to mind. England’s fly-half endured another torrid afternoon and Mike Catt, for one, believes Cipriani should return to Wasps and start rebuilding his confidence at club level.

Johnson seems certain to make changes but he backed his squad as the “best players we have” and urged them to prove they have the character to bounce back against the All Blacks.

“It only gets harder in terms of the team we’re playing against and the week that we’re going to have, but that’s when we’ll find out about characters in the team and in the coaching team,” said Johnson.

“These are our best players. We need to coach these guys up and get them buoyant. That is up to the players as well. We need character.”

Johnson will need to rely heavily on his senior players. Nick Easter and Tom Rees both enhanced their reputations in hostile circumstances and have an important role to play this week.

“We are hugely disappointed but there would be no point in beating ourselves up to the point of being defeated next weekend before we even start,” said Rees. Johnson knows England ultimately need more than character, but the qualities missing from the defeats to Australia and South Africa over the last fortnight cannot all be developed in the space of a week.

“The philosophy we are trying to impose on this team is to be ruthless and to win games,” said Johnson.

“We created a lot of opportunities but didn’t take them.

“How do you define composure? It is not something you can give someone. You have to have these experiences.”

England had 63% of possession and forced South Africa to make over twice as many tackles — 143 to 62 — and yet it was the Springboks who scored five tries. England did not score a single point from seven forays into the South African 22.

The Springboks, meanwhile, rattled up 36 from 10 raids.

Flanker Danie Roussow drove through three defenders for South Africa’s first try before Ruan Pienaar charged down Cipriani’s kick for the second.

It was the third time in six Tests that a charged-down kick from Cipriani has led directly to a try and Johnson admitted it is a weakness that must be corrected as a matter of urgency.

“We have to deal with that because teams will target us in that area until we can put it to bed. We need to deal with it,” said Johnson.