Tom Johnstone: England’s display shows how much boss Shaun Wane was missed
TOM JOHNSTONE could be forgiven for thinking it was a good job England boss Shaun Wane was nowhere near this stuttering performance.
It is a fair bet paint may be hanging from the dressing room walls had he delivered his verdict in person as the two-try winger believes it showed just how much of an impact he has on the players.
On the face of it, scoring 40 points away from home cannot be queried. The reality is very different.
Disjointed England, who took the aggregate across men’s and women’s Tests over two years of the game supposed to bolster the international game on this side of the world to 210-8, were well off their best.
End of season opponents Samoa will punish errors – of which there were plenty – more severely and winning the 2026 World Cup looked a long way away.
Catalans Dragons star Johnstone, who also saw Jack Welsby and Ash Handley bag doubles, knows it and not having Wane, recovering from an infection picked up after routine ankle surgery, had an effect.
He said: “We’ve got standards we like to set when we come into camp and even though we won, we’ve all said we’re not happy with those we set on the pitch.
“And not having Shaun was a big thing. He’s such a big presence and everyone wants to play for him and under him.
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“He told his staff what he wanted from this camp and sent us a message that was played on a big screen, telling us the standards he wanted. He was gutted to not be there but it was still England, we had to get the job done.
“He made his presence felt and that’s huge. Every single bloke who pulls on an England jersey wants to play for him. It was a bit different but sometimes you’ve just got to do it.
“It was a scrappy game and we were disappointed with our standards. My tries weren’t hard really, when you’ve class players like Jack and George Williams inside you, you just stay wide and they’ll get the ball to you.”
England’s start was almost as chaotic as how Johnstone and assistant Andy Last made it to England from the south of France.
Matty Nicholson’s spill was punished by Fouad Yaha’s try and two Arthur Mourgue goals but even though they only really performed for about 35 minutes, the visitors had too much.
Now it is on to Samoa before next year’s Ashes tour to Australia – the required level of match to push Wane’s men towards glory after four debutants made an impression.
After Nicholson and skipper Williams also touched down, with Harry Smith booting four goals, 28-year-old Johnstone – who drove back to his Perpignan home with wife Leah – added: “Samoa will be another level.
“And this game showed what we need to do. We can’t start like that again and our skill levels and standards need to be kept to where we want them. That was a bit of a reality check.
“Personally, the week was a whirlwind. Andy and I were supposed to fly in on Tuesday but got delayed 24 hours. We were supposed to fly at 7.15pm, then it got moved to 8pm, 9am, 2pm and 5pm, so we were just booked on a different flight.
“I met up with Leah in Toulouse and we drove back home. I’d spent enough time in airports for one week!”