Johnno right to stick by youngsters

Jason Leonard|England's Most Capped Player

13 April 2012

As this young England team prepare to face New Zealand tomorrow my question to them is: how are you going to measure up to the best players in the world?

While no one expects England to win, I want to see evidence that we have the potential to become a great side.

They suffered a record defeat against South Africa and I know from my own career that you learn lessons very quickly when you take a hiding.

Maybe we needed a dose of reality because this is a young side who will lose more games than they win in the early days of a new set-up.

Martin Johnson is discovering who can cope at this level and he needs to make those judgements now since you cannot afford to lose a big match a few years down the line because someone cannot hack it in a World Cup Final.

When Sir Clive Woodward took over in 1997 he had experienced players such as Lawrence Dallaglio, Johnson, myself and Neil Back but not the structure. Now, Martin has the structure without the players who possess that kind of experience at this level.

Not many players are born ready to thrive in Test matches and you don't become world-class overnight. I agree with Martin that these are our best players and we have to stick with them.

A lot has been made about the decision to put Danny Cipriani on the bench tomorrow but Toby Flood was always going to get a run-out at some point because you need to expose these young guys to Test rugby.

This squad has enormous talent and we will discover tomorrow a lot about players such as lock Nick Kennedy who has been chosen ahead of Simon Shaw and Tom Palmer.

These matches are all about the 2011 World Cup and we have to expose the younger players to this environment. There is a lot of frustration but Martin doesn't have a magic wand to wave over the players. We have the right man and he has a huge role in developing this squad.

Many people appear to be looking back at the 2003 World Cup-winning side through rose-tinted spectacles and have forgotten we didn't win any of our opening four games under Clive.

I realise people want England back at the top as soon as possible but there is no quick fix.

The players are making simple tactical mistakes, playing too much rugby in their own half and pushing the final pass. That is what a young team does at this level but these players have more talent than we did a decade ago.

So, we should take comfort from that.

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Johnno right to stick by youngsters

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