World Cup will be different ball game - Johnson

England captain Martin Johnson has played down Saturday’s Twickenham showdown with New Zealand in terms of its relevance regarding the 2003 World Cup.

Johnson’s men begin a scheduled 13-Test countdown towards Australia next October when they tackle the All Blacks this weekend.

During that time, England’s programme includes New Zealand, Australia and France home and away, in addition to a full Six Nations Championship programme, as head coach Clive Woodward fine-tunes his latest bid for global supremacy.

England and New Zealand are among the favourites to enjoy World Cup glory, although Johnson believes Saturday’s encounter will have little significance on what happens Down Under in 11 months’ time.

While England, who have not beaten the All Blacks since 1993, could gain a minor psychological edge by toppling New Zealand at Twickenham, it will be no more than that.

The All Blacks are without around 20 key players who have remained at home because of rest requirements or essential operations.

The list of absentees includes key performers like Aaron Mauger, Justin Marshall, Chris Jack, Richie McCaw, Scott Robertson and Tri-Nations skipper Reuben Thorne, among many others, so Johnson’s conclusion is not surprising.

“I don’t think that this game has any real relevance with regard to the World Cup,” he said.

“The World Cup is still a year away, and that is a long time in sport.”

Neither is Johnson, back to captain his country eight months and three Tests since he last did the job, interested in the history books, which shows 18 defeats in 23 starts for England against New Zealand, including spectacular 1995 and 1999 World Cup failures.

Recalling the 30-16 Twickenham defeat three years ago, Johnson added: “New Zealand beat us fair and square in 1999. But that is gone now, and I don’t look upon Saturday as being a revenge game.

“It is England versus New Zealand, and that is as big as you want it to be.

“The 1999 game was one of the most intense matches I have played in. As far as we were concerned, we didn’t go out and do what we said we were going to do.

“There were a few specific things that we had planned, but in the heat of the battle, we didn’t do them.

“We haven’t beaten New Zealand since 1993, but I don’t have a little black book, and I am not going to tick off any boxes if we beat them on Saturday.”

Johnson, who will emulate Will Carling as an England captain to claim all three scalps of the southern hemisphere heavyweights if England defeat New Zealand, also dismisses any notion that the All Blacks might suffer from being without so many top players.

“New Zealand have brought their form team, and we are fine with the players who they have brought over,” he said.

“We haven’t given a thought to player X or player Y not playing. We’ve looked at the players they have got, and they are international-class, who will have a massive amount of pride playing for New Zealand.

“Our main requirement is to play well. This team has not played international rugby together for nearly seven months, so we have got to get back into the intensity and pace of it very quickly.

“For me, first and foremost, I am delighted to be back in the team. It has been as competitive a start to the season as there has been, which is very healthy.

“I never start a season thinking that I am going to be in the England team - I start a season just wanting to play well.”