England 41 Georgia 10: Johnson’s blast puts victory in shade for England

The England manager ripped into his squad after they trooped into the changing room having made hard work of beating a Georgia side playing their second game in four days.

“We got the win, so you would think he’d be happy – but he was spewing in there,” revealed Shontayne Hape.

England eventually prevailed 41-10, running in six tries to claim a bonus point and move top of Pool B, but they struggled for long spells in the face of a spirited Georgian assault.

Johnson raged in the coach’s box as England’s discipline let them down again, with 11 first-half penalties helping Georgia boss the opening 40 minutes.

The Lelos scored a deserved try through number eight Dimitri Basilaia but they could not punish England as fly-half Merab Kvirikashvili missed five shots at goal.

England led 17-10 at the interval courtesy of two Hape tries and then pulled away with second-half scores from Delon Armitage, Manu Tuilagi and two from Chris Ashton.

“It is a simple game and at times we made it more difficult and it was sloppy. It just annoys me. I don’t want to be that type of team,” said Johnson. “If I am happy with those standards then we will go home early – and if we are happy with those standards we will go home early.

“We have to be tough on ourselves. If ever we needed to understand what the game is about at this level, the big game of the weekend – Ireland v Australia – indicated what it is about.

“The bigger the game you play, the more simple it is – maintain possession, don’t give away penalties, build pressure in all aspects of the game and you will give yourself a chance. We need to be rehearsing that.”

In the first half England did precisely none of those things. Hape’s first two Test tries came firmly against the run of play.

England spent just 19 seconds in the Georgian 22 in the first half, compared to nearly nine minutes camped on their own goal-line.

Hape’s first was a break from halfway through a gaping hole in the Georgian defence and his second was a neat finish after Ashton and Flood had combined to make the break.

England finished the half down to 14 men after Dylan Hartley was sent to the sin-bin and Basilaia crashed over from the base of a scrum.

After a half-time roasting, England upped the tempo and eventually won comfortably as Georgia, understandably given the short turnaround, began to tire in the final 20 minutes.

Hape expected Johnson to be happy with the result – but all they got was grumpy.

“We were pleased to get six tries and a bonus-point win but it wasn’t like that in his (Johnson’s) eyes,” said Hape. “He said we left too many points out there and there were too many silly off-loads at times and we gave away too much stupid possession.

“We thought we might at least get a smile out of him, but you know what he’s like – he was actually yelling and screaming.

“A couple of times when Ashton did some stupid off-loads I looked up at the screen and I could see Johnno kicking the sides of the box. He didn’t look like he was a very happy chappy. It’s lucky Ashton scored at the end there to make up for it!”

Armitage scored England’s third before Tuilagi picked a delightful line onto Toby Flood’s pass to register his third try in four Tests.

Ashton then got himself on the scoresheet, running in one long-range effort – complete with a trademark swallow dive – and one from the close range for his first tries in six games.

England’s next appointment is against Romania in Dunedin next Saturday and it is not only Johnson who expects an improvement.

James Haskell tore into his England team-mates and declared: “We are letting ourselves down.”

While Johnson branded his team as “sloppy” – Haskell went much further with a brutal attack on England’s failings.

“People have got to start pointing some fingers and saying ‘This is not acceptable’,” said Haskell, who was pressed into action late after Nick Easter withdrew with a back injury and finished as the leading tackler in the game, along with Simon Shaw.

“Johnno is not happy, the coaches are not happy – the players need to look at themselves and realise they are not working as hard as they should be.

“People should be excited about this team, excited about our performances, but we are letting ourselves down. We are stuck in a bit of a mire.

“Look at the good sides. They have that control, whatever happens you feel they are going to win. With England at the moment it is, ‘This could go either way’.

“We are not in control and there is uncertainty which makes everyone go: ‘Christ what’s going on?’.

“You can’t even begin to play your game if every time you do something there’s a penalty. You are just on the back foot, tackling, get up, penalty. It is like banging your head against the wall.

“That is not acceptable with the players and talent we have got.”

Haskell believes the only way forward for England is for those players guilty of letting the team down to be singled out.

“The days of brushing it under the carpet are gone. It has got to that stage, got that serious,” said Haskell. “It starts with identifying individuals, areas we need to improve. who’s not working hard, who’s not trusting the system?”