Don't be fooled by 'rusty' Johnson

At roughly the same time as Henry was offering praise at Wales' country retreat, Johnson was making roughly the same point at the opposite end of the M4. Nothing, of course, would leave a deeper impression should Leicester's inactive lock announce his return by presiding over an emphatic away win.

Despite the closest of shaves, caused by a suspension which expires at midnight tonight, Johnson will not be throttling back when he reappears on a rugby field for the first time since his club's priceless Zurich Premiership win at Bath almost six weeks ago.

'International rugby is incredibly clean,' he said. 'It's so fast that there is not time to get embroiled in any off-the-ball stuff.'

In saying so, Johnson has clearly learned from earlier experiences, notably the off-the-ball incident at Old Trafford three seasons ago when England gave him a one-match ban following a New Zealand complaint over his maltreatment of All Black scrum half Justin Marshall.

'If you commit a foul on the field and you get into trouble because of it, you simply have to face the consequences,' he said.

'You have to be physical and aggressive to do the job but you have to be careful at all times. It's a matter of common sense.'

Leading the England squad strike last November had been more of an ordeal than sweating through the last month in a state of suspension.

'With the strike you had to think of the others,' he said. 'With the ban, it was just me and there was nothing I could do about it, once the appeal had been heard. But I don't go along with the theory that it was a blessing in disguise. Definitely not. People say it will do me good in the long run. Sure, I might be fresher come the end of the season but I would prefer to have kept playing.'

Ironically, the absurdity of the citing procedure is such that had Chris Rees, the referee in charge of Leicester's Cup tie against Saracens on December 9, seen Johnson kneeing Duncan McRae in the back and given him ten minutes in the sin-bin, Saracens would have been unable to make any formal complaint.

Johnson's views over the matter were typically blunt. 'I regret getting suspended for five weeks,' he said. 'If I had been dealt with by the referee, the punishment would have been far less but that's all history.

'Getting into the opposition physically means knocking them back in the tackle, not cutting up rough. The days when both packs stand toe-to-toe for two or three minutes with the ball elsewhere have long gone. I have never been involved in an international which was particularly dirty.'

He has seen one of the dirtiest, which happened to be his initiation into the England-Wales fixture, the match at Twickenham in 1980 when Llanelli flanker Paul Ringer was sent off. He said: 'I can remember that, but very vaguely. I was only ten at the time, but I do remember Dusty Hare kicking the winning penalty for England.'

With Six Nations referees under orders to take a hard line over the problematical tackle law, England took the precaution of bringing one of their own, Chris White, into yesterday's practice.

Joel Dume of France, noted for letting a lot go in the interests of a flowing match, will be in the middle on Saturday.

'If the referees are going to be strict, then we will have to stay on our feet as much as possible, especially at ruck time,' added Johnson. 'If you come off the field complaining about the referee, it means you didn't deserve to win because you hadn't done enough.'