Wallaby woes a boost for Martin Johnson as he bids to patch up injury-hit England

Chris Jones
30 Oct 2009

Martin Johnson is taking comfort from Australia's misfortune as he tries to assemble an England side capable of getting revenge on the Wallabies.

Twelve months ago, Australia won 28-14 at Twickenham to inflict the first defeat of Johnson's reign with England then losing heavily against South Africa and New Zealand on successive weeks.

England begin their autumn Test campaign against the Wallabies at Twickenham a week tomorrow and although team manager Johnson is without 12 first-choice players for that match, the tourists have problems of their own.

Australia vice-captain Berrick Barnes is out of tomorrow's Bledisloe Cup Test against New Zealand after injuring his left ankle in practice in Japan and he could miss the England clash.

Barnes's injury is a huge blow to Australia coach Robbie Deans, who has has been forced to reshuffle his backline, promoting 19-year-old James O'Connor from the bench to start at full-back and moving Adam Ashley-Cooper to inside-centre against the All Blacks.

Johnson is also counting on the fact the Wallabies are playing in Japan tomorrow and then Gloucester on Tuesday - matches designed to boost Australian Rugby Union coffers - to affect their strength when they face England.

He said: "Even with the challenges we have had as a squad, we can still perform at the level we will need against an Australia side that must play in Tokyo and Gloucester before coming to Twickenham.

"They have their injuries and particular challenges and this is what happens with rugby teams. Switching from Tokyo to London is not ideal but if they perform well then it's a confidence boost. However, if they lost five players through injury I am sure they won't think it's great.

"They have to deal with that and we have to deal with our situation and there won't be an asterisk under the game saying Australia had to travel thousands of miles and we had injuries - it's only the score that is recorded."

England will wear their re-designed white shirt against the Aussies and their new "away" purple jerseys against Argentina the following week. Rugby chiefs believe they will sell around 100,000 of their new shirts, boosting Twickenham income by £4million.

Johnson's main focus and concern in the Guinness Premiership at the weekend could be on the match between Harlequins and London Irish at the Twickenham Stoop.

Flanker Steffon Armitage, one of seven players in England's Elite Player Squad to be released for club duty this weekend, will be looking to put in a strong display for the in-form Exiles to convince Johnson he is worthy of a place in the side to take on Australia.

Quins winger David Strettle, who was promoted from the Saxons into England's revised senior squad, will also be on duty as the home side bid to stretch their unbeaten run in the Premiership to four matches.

Irish, who are a point and a place behind leaders Saracens, will be led by Bob Casey, the lock who will want to bounce back from being snubbed by Ireland for the autumn Tests.

Sarries' 100 per cent league record will be under threat at second-bottom Bath, while London Wasps will hope to keep on the coat-tails of the top two when they host Leeds on Sunday.

"If we don't turn up mentally, they are going to win - it's that simple," said Wasps scrum-half Joe Simpson.

Simpson lost out to Sale's Richard Wigglesworth in the battle to replace the injured Harry Ellis in the England squad but the 21-year-old insists his spirits are still high.

"There are a wealth of No9s out there, so it's always going to be tough," Simpson added.

"I would have loved to have been called up but I am very much keeping my focus on Wasps."

Lions flanker Joe Worsley has been released by England to play for Wasps on Sunday.