Croft admits players feared Johnson’s wrath

TOM CROFT admitted England’s stunning RBS Six Nations victory over France was motivated partly by the desire to avoid the thunder of manager Martin Johnson.

Johnson had been left frustrated and angry by the continuing naivety of his team as they gave away penalties and racked up 10 sin-binnings in four matches.

But all that was swept away by a five-try 34-10 demolition of France which, if Ireland beat Wales, gives England the opportunity of taking second place in the championship when they face Scotland in their final match next weekend.

Croft, the Leicester flanker who won the man of the match award at Twickenham for a precision line-out performance, said: “Johnno can be a scary man sometimes when you walk back in the dressing room so the best thing is to play well and get a win and stay on the right side of him.

“We owed ourselves that performance. There has been frustration in the camp but that has also led to excitement. We were itching to get on the field to put things right and prove people wrong, all those people who doubted us.”

Croft insisted the secret of England’s turnaround was their togetherness as a squad and paid tribute to the way captain Steve Borthwick had handled his increasingly strident critics.

But while his own vital work in the line-out received all the plaudits 23-year-old Croft was in no mood to take anything for granted after winning his 12th cap.

He said: “I’m still seeing myself as fresh-faced young boy. There are guys with 60, 70 caps above me. It is an exciting time. Things are going well at Leicester and I want to bring my form with them to the England side. It’s important we build on this performance.”

Centre Riki Flutey, who scored two tries in his best display to date for England, added: “We take a lot of confidence out of the performance. It was obvious guys were beginning to understand their roles and responsibilities in attack. The set-piece moves went really well.”