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.

Johnson said: “I got asked: ‘Oh haven’t you got to win in style?’ These people don’t understand what you are dealing with.

“It’s bloody competitive, bloody tough. They were strong in the breakdown, a couple of times up the middle of the field I wasn’t comfortable in my seat. These guys can play. How many times do they have to do what they can do before people understand that?”

Meanwhile, match-winner Dan Parks was thrilled with Scotland’s response to their humbling by New Zealand as Andy Robinson’s team defeated South Africa.

Parks kicked six penalties and a drop goal as Scotland recovered from a 49-3 loss to the All Blacks with a 21-17 victory over the Springboks.

“It was fantastic to hear that final whistle,” Parks said. “It’s been a tough week. It was very humiliating last week,” he added.

Victory came at a price, however, with Scott MacLeod ruled out of Scotland’s clash with Samoa next Saturday after suffering a rib injury against the Springboks.

Meanwhile, Italy coach Nick Mallett wants the country’s two Celtic League representatives to do more to help the national team.

One reason Mallett was so keen was his desire to have Italian players in every position competing at a higher level than the Italian domestic league week in, week out.

But it has not worked out quite as he hoped with several key positions at both clubs filled by foreigners who cannot represent Italy at international level.

“There are things we need to talk about,” he said.

“It’s clear they have to do everything for the national team, obviously they have to get good results for themselves but mostly they have to prepare players for the national team.”

* Due to unforeseen circumstances we are unable to publish the Junior Rugby column and junior rugby results.