Michael Burgess: Shaun Johnson under pressure to keep his Kiwis spot, in wake of Kangaroos defeat

Shaun Johnson and his teammates react after they are beaten by Australia. Photo / Photosport

For one of the few times in the international career, Shaun Johnson is under pressure for his spot.

The 29-year-old has been an automatic selection since 2013, and is generally one of the first names on the team sheet for Kiwis coaches.

That might not be the case this week.

The Sharks five-eighth was well below par in Friday's 26-4 defeat to the Kangaroos, struggling to put his stamp on the match and making plenty of errors.

It didn't help that the Kiwis pack was monstered by their opposites, especially in the second half, which meant that Johnson and halves partner Benji Marshall had little time and space, and were constantly on the back foot.

But unfortunately Johnson exacerbated, rather than alleviated that pressure, with his game management.

Fifth tackle options often went wrong — some only just, but those are the fine margins at test level — and the intercept pass thrown for Australia's first try was an extremely low percentage play, rather than a calculated gamble.

Coach Michael Maguire was diplomatic, but obviously unimpressed with Johnson's output.

"I'll talk to Shaun around that space and we will go through that," said Maguire. "We have seen Shaun perform and build pressure and tonight just wasnt his night so we definitely have to look at that."

Kodi Nikorima is an obvious alternative.

Nikorima had an up and down season for the Warriors but was arguably the Kiwis' best player on their tour of England last year.

Kieran Foran finished the NRL season strongly and Maguire may also consider what his combative, direct approach can offer.

Johnson tends to get more than his fair share of both brickbats and bouquets, and he wasn't the only poor performer in Wollongong.

Maybe the big stage at Eden Park on Saturday is the perfect platform to bounce back, or perhaps he needs a week off as he looked low on confidence on Friday night.

Marshall is also under pressure.

He's captain, so will stay in the team, but needs to bring a lot more to the table and was exposed defensively by the Kangaroos on several occasions.

Maguire doesn't have too many options to make changes in the forwards, but Kevin Proctor should come into the mix.

Adam Blair did little to justify his surprise selection. The veteran is coming off a poor NRL season and isn't a test match level player anymore, especially on Friday's evidence.

Maguire admitted that his team were their own worst enemy, and the Kangaroos took full advantage..

"We didn't build pressure," said Maguire. "We were poor in the second half, didn't get too many good ball sets and put a lot of work on our own shoulders. Full credit to Australia, but a lot of the stuff we did allowed Australia to get good field position and then apply pressure."

The match as a contest was over with more than 20 minutes to play, when James Tedesco scored Australia's fourth try, and the Kangaroos went close on a couple of other occasions in a one sided contest.

However Marshall believes the Kiwis can turn things around in seven days, when they face the Great Britain Lions as part of a triple header.

"It's not so much what you say, it's the actions during the week," said Marshall. "We prepared well but you have to take that onto the field. [We've] got a big job this week in terms of getting the boys back on track."

"I think it's a pretty simple fix, we just need to hold onto the ball and build pressure. With pressure the opposition cracks and that's what Australia did to us."