Johnson: Lievremont outburst a compliment

MARTIN JOHNSON yesterday suggested Marc Lievremont’s spiky outburst betrayed a fear that England could wreck France’s RBS 6 Nations title challenge at Twickenham.

Lievremont lit the blue touch-paper ahead of Saturday’s pivotal showdown with an anti-English outburst in which he branded Johnson’s team as the most-hated in the championship.

In the same breath, the France coach added that England are “already in World Cup mode” with players “physically on a different level” to his own.