Johnson praises Samoans

MARTIN JOHNSON tackled the reality of top-flight rugby after his England side made hard work of defeating Samoa at Twickenh am on Saturday.

After the brilliance against Australia the week before, England had to come back from 8-6 down to grind out a 26-13 result which ow d more to hard work and pragmatism than creativity.

Yet while Johnson admitted his team lacked cohesion he was happy with the composure they demonstrated against feisty and physical opponents.