Johnson facing working holiday

FURIOUS Martin Johnson admitted he will not be great company on his family holiday this week as he picks through the bones of England’s 19-9 defeat to Wales.

Johnson was bristling with frustration after England’s Rugby World Cup preparations stalled at the Millennium Stadium with a performance devoid of invention and intelligence.

Not every player will come in for criticism. Alex Corbisiero, Dan Cole and Louis Deacon produced impressive individual performances in a dominant forwards effort.

But England wasted that platform. Wales absorbed a torrent of largely one-dimensional pressure and then picked off their visitors, with a try and two late penalties from James Hook.

The result may have been skewed by the fact England, according to Toby Flood but not Johnson, took a pre-match decision to use the occasion to test out their moves ahead of the World Cup.

Consequently, England spurned some simple shots at goal but Flood branded their inability to score a try from the mountain of possession as “shameful” and “embarrassing”, leaving Johnson with “plenty of food for thought”.

The bad news for his wife and two children is that Johnson is on holiday this week, ahead of finalising England’s 30-man World Cup squad next Monday.

“It is a good time for a break (but) not with me,” said Johnson, who expects to still be as angry when the squad meet up again next Sunday.

“We should be frustrated. This was the strangest Test match I have seen in some ways, to be so dominant for 40 minutes. We have just got to land the killer blow.

“We made 12 changes and lots of players were getting their first starts in a while. There is more to our attacking game, there is more fluidity.

“It hasn’t shaken my belief because if we hadn’t done anything, if we hadn’t dominated a large part of the game and created the chances then you would be disappointed. It is just frustrating.

“We had a chance to win a Test match comfortably. We didn’t do it. I don’t think anyone is particularly happy.”

The previous weekend, when England again struggled to break down Wales at Twickenham, Jonny Wilkinson landed two drop goals.

That kept the scoreboard moving, gave England some reward for their play and, ultimately in a game finishing 23-19, proved the difference.

“The players make the decisions out there but ultimately we have got to get points on the board,” said Johnson.

“We went into the game to play a Test match. At some point, you have got to score points.”

Johnson and the England players were frustrated by the way referee Alain Rolland policed the breakdown.

“The game was refereed differently to last week and we need to be smarter in how we interpret what is going on referee-wise,” said Johnson.

“We have got to know when we are in a battle at the breakdown and deal with it.”

England face Ireland in their final warm-up match in Dublin on August 27. Their World Cup campaign begins against Argentina on September 10.