All Blacks: Tough will triumph says Johnson

Martin Johnson believes substance rather than style is the winning formula for the Rugby World Cup. Photo / Richard Robinson

Resilience rather than style will be the key to World Cup success, according to England coach Martin Johnson.

Too much was made of sides' results leading into the tournament. It did not matter how teams performed last month or last year, he said, all that mattered was the next seven weeks.

Johnson captained England from lock to their World Cup triumph in 2003 and has brought an experience-laden squad, led by Lewis Moody, to New Zealand in search of a second Webb Ellis Cup.

"Finding a way to win is what World Cups are all about," he said. "You are going to have to be tough, you are going to have to deal with the pressure. Expectation on New Zealand will be huge, on South Africa as defending champ and we will have expectation on us from our public to do well.

"World Cups are all about pressure, dealing with it off the field and obviously on the field where you get into close games in the last 10 minutes and I'm sure there will be a game like that for whoever wins it," Johnson said.

Sides who fought back from adversity to grind out close games in the knockout format would learn a great deal about themselves, he said.

England would head to their Dunedin base this weekend to begin preparations for their opening game against Argentina in the new stadium. They were starting to recover after their long trip and veteran lock Simon Shaw had joined the party after being a late starter because of flu.

Johnson expected the whole squad to be ready to train next week, including Moody who had been protecting a damaged knee.

"It is still a target, nothing has changed," Moody said. "I'll still be led by the physios, they have the final say."

The coach said he had taken notice of as many issues as he could leading into the seventh global tournament.

It was interesting, but no more, that the All Blacks had lost their past two tests and the Wallabies won both, he said. Those results would affect them only if they let them.

The All Blacks lost less than any other nation and Johnson was sure they would be "bloody good" when they started their campaign next week against Tonga.

The World Cup is Johnson's first trip here as England coach. He was appointed in 2008 but did not travel for the side's two tests because his wife Kay was expecting their second child.

Having the tournament played in just one country was encouraging, he said. England will play their first three matches at the new covered Dunedin stadium.

Johnson and some squad members would travel to Christchurch next week to meet civic and sporting officials and to see earthquake damage.

England were supposed to play several games in that city and it was the right thing to go and support the people and the area after their tragedy, Johnson said.

The coach disputed observations from the British media that his squad lacked exciting players. He ticked off names in the backline and then, like any old tight forward, started extolling the excitement element in the pack.

"Don't listen to the British press, they are more miserable than me," Johnson quipped.

He felt the best formula to bring England success was to concentrate on their next game rather than winning the tournament. They played Argentina, Georgia and Romania in Dunedin then Scotland at Eden Park.

"If we are down 10-nil after 20 minutes [against Argentina] that will seem a long way away so we have just got to concentrate on the immediate," he said.

"If we get the first part right then all the other segments follow. It is a big game, we are in a pool with three quarter-finalists from the last tournament.

"Something's got to give and as long as it is not us we don't really mind. Our job is to win this one then the next one."

England had played Argentina several times with mixed results in the past few years. They were very competitive and tough first opponents.