Johnson promises more discipline from England

Published on Friday 6 November 2009 22:59

MARTIN Johnson insists England have banished their disciplinary problems and are ready to show just how far they have advanced in the last 12 months against Australia today.

England were authors of their own demise against the Wallabies last year, conceding a string of soft penalties which allowed Matt Giteau to boot Australia to a 28-14 victory.

The early days of Johnson's reign were then scarred further as ten England players were sin-binned in just four matches.

They began to turn the corner after Johnson brought in leading referee Wayne Barnes to drill some sense into his players. And Johnson is convinced that, despite being depleted by an injury crisis, England will produce a better and more discipline performance than 12 months ago.

"That improvement is what we are striving for," said Johnson. "I am confident in the players. I know that they can play at this level and they have to show that. Last season we were winning this game with 20 minutes to go but Matt Giteau kicked seven penalties. It was one of those games where it slipped away from us in the last quarter.

"We are more comfortable as a team now. We have worked very hard on our discipline. We are not going to win games by giving penalties away. Matt Giteau kicked seven penalties last year and we had a 14-point loss."

England: U Monye (Harlequins); M Cueto (Sale Sharks), D Hipkiss (Leicester), S Geraghty (Northampton), M Banahan (Bath); J Wilkinson (Toulon), D Care (Harlequins); T Payne (Wasps), S Thompson (Brive), D Wilson (Bath), L Deacon (Leicester), S Borthwick (Saracens, capt), T Croft (Leicester), L Moody (Leicester), J Crane (Leicester). Replacements: D Hartley (Northampton), D Bell (Bath), C Lawes (Northampton), J Haskell (Stade Francais), P Hodgson (London Irish), A Goode (Brive), A Erinle (Biarritz).

Australia: A Ashley-Cooper (Brumbies); P Hynes, D Ioane, Q Cooper (all Queensland Reds), D Mitchell (New South Wales Waratahs); M Giteau (Brumbies), W Genia (Queensland Reds); B Robinson (New South Wales Waratahs), S Moore, B Alexander (both Brumbies), J Horwill (Queensland Reds), M Chisholm, R Elsom (capt), G Smith (all Brumbies), W Palu (New South Wales Waratahs). Replacements: T Polota-Nau (New South Wales Waratahs), M Dunning (Western Force), D Mumm (New South Wales Waratahs), D Pocock (Western Force), L Burgess (New South Wales Waratahs), R Cross, J O'Connor (both Western Force).