England vs New Zealand: Martin Johnson agrees with Eddie Jones that lack of pressure offers real boost

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Stand-out player: England's Sam Underhill has not been burdened by pressure at the World Cup
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World Cup winner Martin Johnson supports Eddie Jones’s view that the lack of pressure on England ahead of their semi-final with New Zealand this weekend could be an advantage.

The two teams are due to meet in Tokyo on Saturday and head coach Jones repeatedly stressed yesterday how all the pressure is on the reigning champions - and not his own side.

“No one thinks we can win. There’s no pressure on us, we've just got to have a great week, enjoy it, relax,” he said.

Jones will hope that his tactic of taking the spotlight off his own players, and shining it on New Zealand, will help them deliver as all 31 of his squad prepare for the first World Cup semi-finals of their careers.

As a veteran of three tournaments, Johnson knows all about performing at the latter stages of a World Cup and the former second row, who captained England to glory in 2003, agrees with Jones that the lack of pressure on the current squad could play into their hands.

In Pictures | England Rugby train ahead of their World Cup semi-final

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“I remember my first World Cup felt very different to my next World Cup,” Johnson told Standard Sport.

“As a younger player I didn’t feel that sort of weight of leadership and all those other things that come with it.

“These guys are maybe not burdened by history or what happened. They just go into a tournament and have a crack. That is ultimately the best thing you can do, because the nicer way for anyone to play is with no pressure, as underdogs.

“Some kids have that attitude: ‘I don’t care who you are I am going to have a crack’. That’s fantastic. It doesn’t matter that you’ve not got 50 caps or whatever, go out there and get stuck into it.

“Guys like Sam Underhill, you watch him and you think he stands out. You don’t have to be respectful of anyone or anything, get into it.

“There is no reason why you can’t be one of the top players in the tournament because you’ve only got whatever number of caps.

"There is no reason why those guys can’t come out and just go at it because the pressure sometimes in these tournaments can be crushing if you let it.”

When you hear Johnson speak about the pressures of playing at a World Cup, you would expect him to reference the tournament in 2003 - which England travelled to as favourites.

However it was actually the competition four years earlier, the second World Cup of Johnson’s career, where the 49-year-old felt under the most scrutiny.

Wales were the principal hosts for the tournament but, with matches played in England too, the spotlight was on Johnson and his team-mates to impress. In the end, it all became too much and they were knocked out in the quarter-finals by South Africa.

“In 1999 we made the mistake of letting the whole thing become too big,” said Johnson, speaking on behalf of Land Rover, Official Worldwide Partner of Rugby World Cup 2019.

“It can happen to individual players in Test matches, where you freeze up and the whole thing becomes too big. So hopefully those guys in Japan can bring enthusiasm, excitement and they just go out and have a good time, and do that and win games.

“When you go out on the field, World Cup final or not, it is just a game. It needs to be won in the same way you have won every other game you have played in your life really.”

Land Rover is official Worldwide Partner of Rugby World Cup 2019. With over 20 years of heritage supporting rugby at all levels, Land Rover is celebrating what makes rugby, rugby. #LandRoverRugby

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