It will be down to England's 2003 World Cup winning skipper to pick up the pieces after two heavy defeats against the All Blacks and he will get time with his new squad at an August training camp. He missed the tour to New Zealand shortly after being appointed as Team Manager because his wife is due to give birth to their second child.

But just how many of the squad that lost both Tests in New Zealand will survive is a matter of conjecture - even though stand-in Manager Rob Andrew believes the trip down under had its merits.

"We showed enormous strength of character and you couldn't question one bit the spirit and player commitment," said Andrew in the wake of the 44-12 defeat in Christchurch..

"I thought in many areas we improved and took the game on from last week. We knew when we came down that we wanted to learn about some of the younger players.

"We've done that - and we've learned some really good things. We also learned one or two things about some players that we didn't want to learn as well.

"But it certainly wasn't a tour from hell by any stretch of the imagination."

England have now lost nine games in a row in the southern hemisphere since clinching the World Cup five years ago.

Johnson will get his chance to take some form of revenge on the All Blacks when they meet at Twickenham Stadium on 29 November in the final Test of their 'Grand Slam' tour.