Johnson: Any win will do
England were widely criticised for a laboured and unimaginative performance in last weekend’s 36-11 victory over Italy in the opening round of the 6 Nations championship.
Wales coach Warren Gatland issued a timely dig yesterday, taunting England for being “negative” and not as dangerous as the Leicester team that Johnson won Premiership and Heineken Cup titles with as a player.
But the England manager refused to get dragged into Gatland’s pre-match mind games and declared: “We do not have to justify how we play to anyone.”
Johnson insisted England’s only ambition today is to overturn the odds, which are stacked heavily against them, and leave Cardiff with a victory.
He explained: “I understand people’s frustration about how we played last week.
“But ultimately we won the game.
“Our objective is always to win. When you get to big games people don’t actually care how you win.
“If we win by a point tomorrow English rugby fans will be happy.
“But we are going to have to play very well to do that.”
With the bulk of Joe Worsley on the open-side and Mike Tindall back at outside centre, Johnson has selected a physical side in the hope of containing Wales’ dynamic game-breakers.
Johnson continued: “I thought last week Wales were strong, they overpowered Scotland on man-on-man tackles and most of the time won the collisions which gave them momentum to win the ball pretty quickly.
“You have to win those battles and we have to be sure in our system defensively.
“We’ve got to have bloody-mindedness to handle the crowd noise. If we start well and impose ourselves on the game we will be in a good place.”
On top of his Leicester barb, Gatland threw a few other verbal grenades Johnson’s way yesterday including a suggestion that Wales had broken England’s lineout codes.
But Johnson said: “One or two lineout steals at key times can be crucial so it’s an area you’ve got to be aware of.
“Whether we use the same calls, lineouts as we did last week... we are pretty confident in our lineout.”
Johnson admits Wales have “lost a very good player” after Shane Williams was ruled out.
Williams, scorer of 45 tries in 62 Tests and last season’s top Six Nations finisher, is out with an ankle injury.
He will be replaced in the starting lineup by Scarlets wing Mark Jones, who wins his 44th cap after recently recovering from appendix surgery.
Wales attack coach Rob Howley said: “We gave Shane every opportunity to be fit, which shows the respect we have for him.
“He worked with the physios and the medical team, but he is not 100%.
“We are comfortable with Mark coming in. He has never let us down, and he was outstanding against Australia in the autumn.”
Wales might be firm favourites to record an eighth Six Nations success in a row against all opponents this weekend — but lock Alun-Wyn Jones insists the reigning champions must tread carefully.
“People can write and talk about England, but when you play England you know you are playing against a formidable side that does the basics well,” he said.
“We’ve got to expect England to be very confrontational, then try and stem the tide in the first half, as we did against Scotland last weekend.
“Things haven’t gone well for them in recent games, but sport is a fickle thing and anybody can win on the day.”
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