No Lions hangover - Johnson

MARTIN JOHNSON believes there will be no Lions hangover when England kick off their autumn campaign.

Team Manager Johnson, speaking exclusively to the rfu.com podcast, believes his team will be ready for the Wallabies when they come to Twickenham Stadium on November 7 as part of the three-match Investec Challenge series.

And with Argentina the following week and New Zealand on November 21, Johnson knows England's players will be prepared despite some of them having had a long season after reaching one of the pinnacles of their career on the Lions tour to South Africa.

Tom Croft and Ugo Monye reached the pinnacle of the British & Irish Lions
(Photo courtesy of RFU)

"It is as much a mental as a physical issue - in fact the majority of it is mental. It was a long season with big peaks in terms of intensity - those Lions test matches were some of the biggest test matches of the year worldwide," said Johnson.

"But you have to deal with that as a player, going from a Test match one week to a club game and I am confident those guys will be up for it in the autumn.

"The new agreement (between the RFU and the Guinness Premiership clubs) gives them the opportunity to have weeks off during the season and their clubs have been pretty sensible in the way they have been managed so I am confident they will be in good form."

Also on this week's podcast:

From PRA to RPA - Damian Hopley explains the change of name from the Professional Rugby Players' Association to the Rugby Players Association and we also hear from Topsy Ojo, Steve Borthwick and David Barnes

Click here to listen to the RFU podcast