Johnson: England's Mr Dispensable

'It doesn't leave me thinking about the captaincy. It leaves me thinking about getting back into the team. That's the priority. There's no point looking at what-ifs, but what's next.

'You win, you lose, you get picked, you don't. There are plenty of others worse off than me. Matt Perry never did anything wrong for England and he's not involved. Martin Corry had a great Lions tour but he's not in the current squad.

'I thought my form for England this winter has been fairly good but I can handle it and get on with it. Other players have had bigger cause for complaint than me. It's all about the team.'

Like the professional he is, Johnson has pledged nothing less than full support for his successor, Leicester flanker Neil Back.

Johnson said: 'If you have a bad attitude on the bench, it goes through the whole team. Backy's in charge and I'm fully behind him. He's always been one of the team leaders, someone for whom everyone else has a lot of respect.

'I'm happy for him. Danny Grew-cock was one of the players of the Lions tour, another who did nothing wrong for England but didn't get a game until the last one. I'm glad for him.

'He and Ben Kay are world-class second-row forwards. There have always been a lot of good second rows and you've always had to fight for your place. I've never taken mine for granted.'

The decision, according to Woodward, had 'absolutely nothing' to do with any delayed reaction to the scrape Johnson got himself into at Vicarage Road two months ago.

But clearly, it had something to do with it because had he not punched Robbie Russell that Saturday night in Watford, the Leicester lock would never have given Grewcock the opportunity to make enough hay in the Twickenham sunshine against Wales a fortnight ago for Woodward to retain him in tandem with John-son's Leicester team-mate Kay.

Woodward said: 'The team played very well against Wales and I decided to go with the same lot with one exception. There was only one player I felt who would significantly add to the team, Jason Robinson.

'Martin Johnson knows he's in a very competitive position. He doesn't like being on the bench any more than anyone else, but Grewcock and Kay had outstanding games against Wales. They deserve to start again and this is the strongest team going into this game.

'It proves that no player can take selection for England for granted. I'm Martin Johnson's biggest fan. He'll get a run at the weekend because this is about 22 players winning a Test match.'

The one player to be left out of the winning team, Austin Healey, took his predictable demotion to the bench with a philosophical shrug, knowing that his temporary drop in performance is the inevitable consequence of five years on the treadmill.