Johnson urges Red Rose to be ruthless in Cardiff showdown
ENGLAND manager Martin Johnson has ordered his team to show no mercy to a Wales side drained of confidence by a seven-match winless run.
“If you haven’t won for a long time, you get that feeling of ‘when is the next one going to come from?’ We can control that in the game,” he said.
“We must give them no easy outs, no easy scores. If we get into the last quarter with them behind, that is where we want to be.”
Comments from Wales coach Warren Gatland about England hooker Dylan Hartley have raised the temperature ahead of tonight’s clash, and Johnson added: “I don’t mind. I like a spicy build-up to a game, it gets the blood flowing.
“Then we go and play. A rugby game is about who is playing not about who said what. Our guys are desperate to go and play a game.”
Johnson says his side are a different proposition after some encouraging autumn results.
“There’s a belief there that we can go and play against anyone and be successful,” he said.
TEAMS | WALES V ENGLAND
Wales
J Hook; M Stoddart, J Roberts, J Davies, S Williams; S Jones, M Phillips; P James, M Rees (capt), C Mitchell, B Davies, A-W Jones, D Lydiate, S Warburton, A Powell
Replacements: R Hibbard, J Yapp, R Jones, J Thomas, D Peel, R Priestland, L Byrne
England
B Foden; C Ashton, M Tindall (capt), S Hape, M Cueto; T Flood, B Youngs; A Sheridan, D Hartley, D Cole, L Deacon, T Palmer, T Wood, J Haskell, N Easter
Replacements: S Thompson, D Wilson, S Shaw, J Worsley, D Care, J Wilkinson, M Banahan