Johnson excited by World Cup draw

Eurosport - Tue, 02 Dec 09:53:00 2008

Martin Johnson is relishing the prospect of England locking horns with the old enemy Scotland after they were drawn together in the group stages of the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

RUGBY 2008 - Martin Johnson, England head coach - 0

But Johnson (pictured) refused to buy into the theory that England had escaped lightly in the draw after avoiding Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, who all enjoyed convincing victories at Twickenham last month.

England are guaranteed to face fourth seeds Argentina and Scotland in Pool B plus the leading European qualifier - possibly Georgia or Romania - and a play-off winner. In 2007, that was Portugal.

England beat Scotland 9-6 in their only previous World Cup encounter - the 1991 semi-final at Murrayfield that Johnson, then aged 21, watched in a bar having played for Leicester against Sale earlier in the day.

Johnson played in England's only World Cup meeting with Argentina, when two drop goals and six penalties from Rob Andrew secured a hard-fought 24-18 victory in the pool stages of the 1995 tournament in South Africa.

Johnson said: "Playing Scotland in the World Cup will be a hell of a game, with huge passion. We haven't played them in a World Cup since 1991. That was a tight game.

"Scotland were quarter-finalists last year, we finished second and Argentina finished third. There are a lot of tough groups.

"Argentina have been successful. They went to the World Cup in 2007 and came through the toughest pool of all and they could have got to the final."

Wales have been drawn in what is widely considered to be the toughest of all groups along with world champions South Africa, their 2007 conquerors Fiji and probable qualifiers Samoa.

Ireland were grouped with Australia and Italy - but Johnson denied England had been dealt a lucky hand by avoiding the three southern hemisphere super-powers.

The Wallabies, Springboks and All Blacks put 102 points and nine tries past England in three autumn Tests as they won 28-14, 42-6 and 32-6 on consecutive weekends.

England's potential quarter-final opponents come from Pool A and are likely to be either New Zealand or France.

And Johnson said: "If you want to get to the last week of the World Cup you need to be good enough to beat the best in the world. Whoever we got in the pool doesn't change anything in that regard.

"There are some pretty tough groups there. Scotland and Fiji were in the third band and they both reached the quarter-finals at the last World Cup.

"There will be some awesome games before the quarter-finals - England v Scotland, England v Argentina, New Zealand v France, Ireland v Australia, Wales v South Africa."

If the World Cup was tomorrow, England supporters would fear their side's chances of even qualifying from a group containing Scotland and Argentina.

Johnson would not pontificate on England's realistic chance of winning the 2011 World Cup, but he did concede significant strides need to be taken if they are to even head to New Zealand as potential challengers.

"The World Cup is so huge now in the world of rugby that everything builds up to it. If there wasn't a World Cup in three years would it change anything? No. We want to improve as a team," said Johnson.

"It is nice to be here and think of three years time - but we have to get better as a team.

"We will meet this week as coaches with the emotion of it gone. We need to put our plans in place for the Six Nations and the squad.

"We have lots of planning to do.

"We are not picking a team to win in three years, we are picking a team to win now but of course we will have an eye on who will be there.

"But we need to make sure they are still there and playing at the highest level.

"When you look at teams that have won it, the last three have all been pretty experienced and the three England teams to have reached finals (in 1991, 2003 and 2007) have all been very experienced."

Sporting Life / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 19 of 19

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  1. Perfect draw for Scotland, another chance to beat you­ English ********.

    From Graeme, on Mon 8 Dec 7:36PM

  2. Johnson is a joke as the coach - great captain but­ hopeless coach - he moves from TV pundit to coach -­ what track record and experience of coaching does he­ have. Given the player population base England are­ pathetic under performers.

    From Steve, on Sat 6 Dec 8:53PM

  3. Great group for Scotland - worst top seed and worst­ second seed

    From Steve, on Sat 6 Dec 8:48PM

  4. Scotland have a strong pack - there are signs of an­ exciting new back division emerging. It's a young­ squad and virtually all will still be at their peak by­ 2011. I think England have a lot to worry about. It may­ be that Argentina will be weaker by next world cup. I­ would say the signs are that this will be a very even­ group - perm any 2 of 3 to qualify. My guess would be­ Scotland 1st, England 2nd, Argentina 3rd.

    From Steve, on Sat 6 Dec 8:40PM

  5. And one more thing - the scottish players that­ didn't play against New Zealand were certainly not­ injured as all eleven of them played against Italy in­ the final pool game a few days after the New Zealand­ match. Losers mentality sums it all up.

    From neil, on Wed 3 Dec 9:41AM

  6. scotland should consider themselves lucky to have drawn­ martin johnsons england in the group stages of the­ world cup. his own on field antics of verbally abusing­ the match officials to the point where most of them­ should have sent him off and inflicting injury on the­ opposing team, smaller players normally, will not stand­ him in good stead for this world cup. influential on­ the pitch, out of touch in the grandstand.

    From stephen j, on Wed 3 Dec 9:34AM

  7. scotland should consider themselves lucky to have drawn­ martin johnsons england in the group stages of the­ world cup. his own on field antics of verbally abusing­ the match officials to the point where most of them­ should have sent him off and inflicting injury on the­ opposing team, smaller players normally, will not stand­ him in good stead for this world cup. influential on­ the pitch, out of touch in the grandstand.

    From stephen j, on Wed 3 Dec 9:23AM

  8. Mate - stop playing the victim and say something­ constructive instead of lapsing into "the nasty­ englishman is picking on the poor Jocko again"­ mode which you and your countrymen always do. The Scots­ don't like the english and we don't like you­ but you guys seem to have a real problem with that­ whereas we don't care whether you like us or not.­ Simple as that.

    From neil, on Wed 3 Dec 9:15AM

  9. To: Neil m, it's great being the red pen police,­ however being very slightly dyslexic I could give a­ monkey's what you think of my grammar or spelling,­ its the point and the fact you showing your self to be­ a narrow minded bigot with a poor attitude to life and­ others, that is the sad part.....So I will live with my­ disability...what your reason for being a poor excuse­ or is that just your pleasant personality.

    From Tom, on Tue 2 Dec 11:30PM

  10. I was there behind the posts at Murrayfield when Gavin­ Hastings missed !!
    It won't be as close next­ time......England will recover to easily win.

    From spyatree, on Tue 2 Dec 4:21PM

  11. How can you expect to be taken seriously when you spell­ tactic "tack tick"....seriously - are you for­ real?

    From neil, on Tue 2 Dec 2:40PM

  12. If this thread or comment was aimed at Asians or Black­ people it would still mean or have the same inference­ there is no relevance or informative sporting­ ditto's in this, bigots and narrow minded people­ who feel they have a more superior national or cultural­ identity to other nations or individual nationals, is­ wrong and socially unacceptable (Oh and not be pious­ same applied with English bashing Scots). This is a­ sports blog and not an avenue for non sporting­ nationalist bigots to vent thier views.
    Oh one bleat­ with relevance to sport: Scotland have not beaten the­ All Blacks in 100 years (there abouts) and I do believe­ the IDEA of the world cup is to with the competition­ therefore all tack ticks apply in that goal, some might­ say it not gentlemanly but its a sport not a­ gentleman’s club, and to protect your already injury­ prone squad is and was the right tack tick.

    From Tom, on Tue 2 Dec 1:44PM

  13. Well hopefully the Jocks will be off our hands soon in­ 2010 when they have their indepependence vote.I do hope­ they put their money where their mouths are but somehow­ I think they like to play the victim card and won't­ have the guts to go it alone.

    From neil, on Tue 2 Dec 11:38AM

  14. Scotland exist to complain about England. Whatever the­ draw they would moan/corw/gloat. It seems to be part of­ their national make up after Mel Gibson became their­ King in exile. Perhaps they could all paint themselves­ blue and shout "Freedom" loud enough for the­ RFU to change the pool draw? Perhaps they only lost the­ battle of Culloden because they fielded a second army­ to live to fight another day. Conspiracies,­ conspiracies.... Grow up. The draw is the draw and­ that's it.

    I do second the comments about the­ fielding of the B team against New Zealand. That was a­ sad day for Scotland the brave....

    From John D, on Tue 2 Dec 11:01AM

  15. Scotland are the biggest disgrace to rugby ever after­ fielding their 2nd team to face New Zealand in their­ group stage at the last world cup just so that they­ could play one more game in the quarter finals before­ getting knocked out. Their supporters should have been­ up in arms that their national side had conceded the­ game to New Zeland before the ball was even­ kicked.Absolute disgrace. On another note the World Cup­ is three years away and a hell of a lot can happen­ between now and then. As Johnson so rightly says to win­ the worl;d cup you will have to beat the best along the­ way whether you meet them in the groups. quarters,­ semis, and final. That's why Scotland will never,­ ever win the world cup as they are not prepared to try­ and beat the top teams.

    From neil, on Tue 2 Dec 10:18AM

  16. Why would the Scots complain? On recent form (autumn­ internationals excepted) we deserve to be in the third­ band. Unlike our neighbours, we don't feel we have­ a God given right to win - we still believe we have to­ deserve victory! If the form shown in the Autumn­ continues and grows through the next 3 years then­ Scotland might be in good shape. But as with all the­ teams, 2011 is a long way away! And All Blacks­ Favourites? There is still time for them to scour the­ South Sea Islands for their next batch of All Blacks -­ I am all for it - there is plenty room for a few more­ Kilted Kiwis north of the border who can't get a­ game for the Mighty AB's!

    From hblackburn, on Tue 2 Dec 7:12AM

  17. If you are picking a team to win now you must have rose­ tinted glasses on.Out of the team that has been picked ­ lately only a few have really stood out.The rest at­ best can only be described as average or even in some­ cases as ordinary at best.

    From MICHAEL, on Tue 2 Dec 7:03AM

  18. Complain? Scots are HAPPy - a good group for the Jocks

    From nickmcglynn, on Tue 2 Dec 2:07AM

  19. Um, I'm leaving this comment mainly to check that­ the comment form is working. Seems very strange that­ no Scottish people have complained about some sort of­ conspiracy/bias yet.

    From otisyumyum, on Mon 1 Dec 11:36PM
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