England captain Martin Johnson does not expect the Twickenham fortress factor to have much of a bearing when his team face Ireland in the Saturday’s Six Nations Championship. Saturday's team will contain only five members of the side deprived of last season's Grand Slam by Ireland's 20-14 victory in October yet Johnson still believes it is important to consider what happened at Lansdowne Road.
"It's quite amazing that in only four months there have been so many changes, but there is still a lot of relevance to that game. We have to learn from it and try and counter the things they do well," Johnson said.
Just as the contribution from his club side at Leicester is a big influence in the England pack, Johnson knows just how important the Munster effect is for the Irish. "I watched Munster play at Stade Francais and it was one of the best wins in European Cup history," he said.
Johnson and his England team-mates who went on the Lions summer tour to Australia have no excuse not to be fully aware of the danger posed by Irish centre Brian O'Driscoll. "It was obvious anyway but you know him a little bit more as a player, what he does, how he runs. The Lions tour has one of the biggest exposures in world rugby so everyone knows what he can do."
The captain makes no secret of his belief that England will have to step up a level from their victory over Scotland in the opening Six Nations match to beat Ireland. "We will have to be better than we were against Scotland," he said. "Ireland have beaten France and Wales, ran the All Blacks close and played to their strengths. We need to be on our toes or they will be through."
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
