Martin Johnson wants England to turn Twickenham back into a fortress

England have lost six of their 13 home Tests since Johnson took charge in the summer of 2008, with their only autumn victories coming against the Pacific Islands and Argentina.

When Johnson was a player and captain, Twickenham was England's fortress. Sir Clive Woodward's side did not lose at home in 22 Tests over four years in the build-up to their 2003 Rugby World Cup triumph.

That aura of invincibility has been lost. Australia will arrive there today having won on their last two visits and England's recent home record is four defeats in six Tests.

Last weekend, England had the 81,000-strong Twickenham crowd on its feet with a rousing second-half comeback against New Zealand but they had left it too late and the All Blacks won 26-16.

Johnson urged his men to turn the old cabbage patch into a cauldron right from the kick-off today and catch the Wallabies cold. "We want teams to come here and not look forward to playing," said the team manager. "You only do that by performance. It doesn't happen any other way. You have to go and play with intensity and accuracy and make it bloody difficult for them.

"We are expecting a very hard Test match and a tough challenge. We were disappointed with things we did last week but it is good to have that as a reference point.

"We didn't start well enough last week, defensively we compounded errors and suddenly they are scoring. You can fix those things up.

"The guys were realistic last week that they hadn't played well enough for long enough in the game. They had played well in parts but that won't win you a game against teams of this quality. Australia are very dangerous. They are very good at spotting opportunities, mismatches, holes on the inside. We have got to be sharper than we were last week.

"We will be better for playing the All Blacks. One of the guys yesterday said: If we had done that in the Premiership we would have scored but it wasn't good enough. It is that recognition from the players that they need to produce 80 minutes of Test match intensity and execution. Everything is about intensity. The pace of it is faster, more powerful, there are heavier tackles and you get less time. You have to get into that mode."

Australia captain Rocky Elsom admitted the Wallabies' defeat to England in the summer gave them a kick up the backside. Elsom became only the second Australian captain to preside over a Test defeat to England on home soil when Johnson's men edged a 21-20 result in Sydney.The Wallabies went on to finish second in the Tri-Nations and they arrive at Twickenham on the back of victories over New Zealand in Hong Kong and Wales in Cardiff.

England flanker Tom Croft rates Australia as the team to beat in world rugby, which is some progress from 12 months ago when they drew with Ireland in Dublin and lost to Scotland at Murrayfield.

"When you are winning matches you try and see everything as it is and not get carried away with the win but with a loss you look over everything," said Elsom. "That loss and the following week against Ireland didn't go perfectly well and that helped us along a hell of a lot. We have been fortunate enough to get a lot out of our losses. In saying that, you would prefer not to have them!

"Certain guys have really improved (since that defeat to England]. Our structures have improved a hell of a lot, which is a good sign for us.

"This game is a new contest so we are not given anything just because guys have improved or we know our game plan a bit better but that has been a pleasing thing from this time last year."

Australia have made a change to their bench after reserve hooker Huia Edmonds was ruled out of the game with a shoulder injury suffered in the midweek win over Leicester. Saia Faingaa, who started last Saturday's victory over Wales, comes into the 22-man squad.

England: B Foden (Northampton); C Ashton (Northampton), M Tindall (Gloucester), S Hape (Bath), M Cueto (Sale Sharks); T Flood (Leicester), B Youngs (Leicester); A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), D Hartley (Northampton), D Cole (Leicester), C Lawes (Northampton), T Palmer (Stade Francais), T Croft (Leicester), L Moody (Bath, capt), N Easter (Harlequins). Replacements: S Thompson (Leeds Carnegie), D Wilson (Bath), S Shaw (Wasps), H Fourie (Leeds Carnegie), D Care (Harlequins), C Hodgson (Sale Sharks), D Armitage (London Irish).

Australia: K Beale; J O'Connor, A Ashley-Cooper, M Giteau, D Mitchell; Q Cooper, W Genia; B Robinson, S Moore, B Alexander, M Chisholm, N Sharpe, R Elsom (capt), D Pocock, B McCalman. Replacements: S Faingaa, J Slipper, D Mumm, R Brown, L Burgess, B Barnes, L Turner.

Referee: C Joubert (South Africa).