England bring in Haskell to beef up pack
BAGSHOT (Reuters) - Martin Johnson has refused to panic after England's defeat by Australia and his only change for Saturday's South Africa game is the introduction of hefty flanker James Haskell for Tom Croft.
England were beaten 28-14 by the Wallabies at the weekend having overcome the Pacific Islanders 39-13 in Johnson's first game in charge and failed to impose themselves up front in the set-piece or breakdown.
Johnson said Haskell had been impressive coming off the bench in both matches and deserved his chance.
The only other change in the squad announced on Tuesday is on the bench where uncapped Leicester flanker Jordan Crane comes in for Michael Lipman.
Johnson, in truculent mood, said he and his assistants had looked at all the options ahead of Saturday's Twickenham rerun of last year's World Cup final (2:30 p.m.) but said it was more about getting everybody to follow the script than changing personnel.
"The art for the coaches is making the most of a short space to time to make a significant impact," Johnson told a news conference.
"You can't change a player overnight, and wouldn't want to a huge amount because you select them for what they can do, so it is more a question of getting everyone to understand what we are trying to do and then execute.
"We want to get some consistency in the team. They are aware of the mistakes we made but they have the opportunity to correct them." Continued...
Man walks into his own funeral.