He was an inspirational player but the jury is still out on his role as England manager, writes JOHN O'SULLIVAN

IN PANDERING to a caricature, Martin Johnson appears to embody a menacing, brooding anti-hero, even to an increasing legion of charioteers who had placed him on a pedestal in his playing days. Perched behind Perspex or shoehorning his huge frame into a seat in the stand that seems ill-equipped for the purpose, his default expression is to glower.

It’s perhaps a legacy from his days as a player when that veneer offered an inkling of the fierce, uncompromising desire that lurked within, in pursuing success on the playing field; a mindset prized by those that coached him. Irish supporters are unlikely to forget the unswerving intransigence of red carpetgate at Lansdowne Road in 2003 when he refused to bow to protocol.

Having swapped a jersey for a shirt and tie, the England manager hasn’t quite divested himself of those playing mannerisms.

Although removed from the arena of direct confrontation, he appears to survey the action with the same intensity, unable to camouflage his emotions. That transparency inevitably attracts television camera close-ups that could be labelled “animated features”.

He is far from alone. New Zealand coach Graham Henry and Scotland’s Andy Robinson are occasionally expressive of gesture but when it comes to table thumping, Johnson’s volcanic eruptions are far higher up the Richter scale. It is difficult to escape the notion that if he could lay his hands on the object of his frustration at that point, it might have bloody consequences.

These, though, are superficial observations that could be misleading, certainly in the context of his loyalty to players and coaching staff during his 20-month tenure in charge of England.

Confirmed as the successor to Brian Ashton in April 2008, he missed a game against the Barbarians and the summer tour to New Zealand because his wife Kay was expecting their second child – Rob Andrew and John Wells presided over that touring party – only beginning his new role in earnest on July 1st, 2008.

His thoughts on the appointment were channelled through a brief official statement rather than a traditional press conference. It stated simply: “I am passionate about the England team and delivering success for it.”

One-on-one interviews were rarely granted when a player and one suspects he endures his relationship now with the media, periodically through gritted teeth.

One memorable confrontation occurred in the wake of England’s uninspiring 16-9 victory over Argentina at Twickenham during the most recent November Test series. Sky Sports touchline reporter Graham Simmons pursued a line of questioning that was particularly unpalatable to his interviewee.

Johnson’s thunderous facial expression as much as increasingly curt responses left little doubt as to his preferred final resting place for Simmons’s microphone: retrieval would have demanded surgical intervention.

Pressure has been a constant companion from the outset. The lack of a coaching pedigree of any description may have prompted some misgivings but these were outweighed by the kudos he carried from his playing days. A lingering rosy hue from the 2003 World Cup triumph in terms of the part played by the man who captained England to that success would have bought him leeway.

That began to erode when England lost three of the first five internationals in which Johnson had direct control, all at Twickenham. South Africa (42-6) and New Zealand (32-6) meted out severe beatings. The only wins came in the first match against the Pacific Islands and the fifth, against Italy at the start of the 2009 Six Nations Championship.

A further two defeats followed in Cardiff and Dublin – two wins in seven Tests – was followed by arguably England’s best performance of the current regime, a 34-10 thumping of France at Twickenham. On the final weekend of the Six Nations, the English outmuscled the Scots to finish second in the tournament on points difference.

They placed Argentina twice in June, winning at Old Trafford but losing to the Pumas in Salta. There was mitigation in the fact England couldn’t call upon their Lions contingent but it ratcheted up the pressure for last November’s Test series.

The blast furnace doors were flung wide open when England managed just a single try in four hours of rugby.

A 16-9 victory over the Pumas was sandwiched in between defeats to Australia (18-9) and New Zealand (19-6). Johnson was castigated for the manner of the team’s performances as much for the defeats as the clamour grew for him to revise his coaching team. The English RFU decided to intervene in the shape of union’s chairman of the management board, Martyn Thomas.

He explained: “Martin (Johnson) is the right man for the job. He has come under enormous pressure this month and it is easy to have a go at the coaches but we are looking at the overall picture: the management has had to contend with a lengthy injury list and the game throughout the world is going through a phase when everyone is looking at ways of making it more attractive.

“Martin is an outstanding man and I have every confidence in him. He will lead England to the 2011 World Cup.”

Johnson, though, has had to make a defence of his own realm; the coaching one that is as media and supporters looked for accountability following a sterile series of displays. It was in marked contrast to the touchline-to-touchline approach England adopted during the early days of his tenure.

He kept on former Leicester team-mates Wells (forwards’ coach) and Graham Rowntree (scrum coach) from Ashton’s time in charge, so too Mike Ford (defence) and Jon Callard (kicking); Johnson’s main appointment the decision to bring in former Australia and Ireland international Brian Smith. The latter had forged a reputation with London Irish for an entertaining, expansive brand of rugby.

He tried to introduce that to the England team but they laboured to implement those patterns against a diet of several defeats in the higher profile contests. The return of Jonny Wilkinson to the outhalf role coincided with a more pragmatic and direct style that has returned a higher success ratio, albeit in displays that are less easy on the eye.

Johnson had to don his firefighter’s uniform, not for the first time, last November. “It would be easy to blame someone else, to say that A, B or C should be sacked: easy to do, but not right.”

Former players have queued up to lambast the team, although one, Josh Lewsey, subsequently wrote to apologise to Wells, Ford and Smith.

Parsing the statistics can be done from wildly different standpoints. England have only won once on the road – a fortnight ago in Rome – but five of their eight defeats in 16 matches under Johnson have been against Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

Two of the other three losses away from home came against the reigning or soon-to-be-crowned Grand Slam champions in Wales and Ireland; yet they have won just once in four matches outside England without having travelled to face any of the top three teams in the world rankings.

In his 16 games in charge Johnson has started 50 different players but in examining the team that will face Ireland today and factoring in injuries that deny him Tom Croft, Andrew Sheridan and Phil Vickery, the England manager can largely name a first choice side based on appearances: only centre Matthew Tait (two starts), hooker Dylan Hartley (6), Dan Cole (1) and Lewis Moody (5) have begun fewer games than others used in that position.

The England manager has been offered little respite from the criticism following wins over Wales and Italy in the opening two matches of the 2010 Six Nations. Whatever about a slightly fortunate result against Wales, the final scoreline distorted slightly by the sin-binning of Alun Wyn Jones and an interception, the English display in Rome was an even less edifying display in the eyes of the critics.

Wilkinson found himself in their crosshairs but Johnson, as he has largely done since he took charge, stuck his jaw out and marched forward verbally to meet the inquisitors. “We don’t need to get caught into thinking we need to prove people wrong or play a style of rugby because that’s what people think we should do.

“I find the amount of criticism that has gone Jonny’s way a bit surprising and disappointing. I think it has gone over the top. Our failure to put some of those chances away (against Italy), was not because of Jonny Wilkinson. No, he is part of the team like everyone else is.

“I have a wry smile when I read some of those articles. I don’t think I have to sit here and defend Jonny for what he has done in rugby. When you win, generally you don’t make apologies for how you do it, although we seem to have had to occasionally. If we have to kick for 80 minutes we will do that, if we have to run for 80 minutes we will do that. We need to make good decisions based on what’s in front of us on the day. We will need to be bloody good in all areas to beat Ireland.”

Johnson’s stubborn streak and his willingness not to tug the forelock to outside opinion is fine up to a point. He’s right to assert that his team don’t need their rugby to win beauty contests but that’s on the proviso they keep winning. If they don’t then the din of disapproval will get louder as England continue to labour conservatively. Even the most bloody-minded will be forced to take stock or risk ending up in them, being pelted from all sides.

50 Players started in 16 matches

Fullbacks

Delon Armitage (13 starts)

Ugo Monye (2)

Mark Cueto (1)

Wings Paul Sackey (7)

Mark Cueto (11)

Ugo Monye (9)

Matt Banahan (5)

Centres

Jamie Noon (5)

Riki Flutey (10)

Mike Tindall (4)

Dan Hipkiss (5)

Tom May (2)

Shane Geraghty (2)

Ayoola Erinle (1)

Matthew Tait (2)

Toby Flood (1)

Outhalves

Danny Cipriani (3)

Toby Flood (4)

Andy Goode (4)

Jonny Wilkinson (5)

Scrumhalves

Danny Care (9)

Harry Ellis (5)

Paul Hodgson (2)

Loosehead Props

Andrew Sheridan (7)

Tim Payne (9)

Hookers

Lee Mears (9)

Dylan Hartley (6)

Steve Thompson (1)

Tighthead Props

Matt Stevens (1)

Phil Vickery (8)

David Wilson (3)

Julian White (1)

Duncan Bell (2)

Dan Cole (1)

Secondrows

Steve Borthwick (16)

Nick Kennedy (5)

Tom Palmer (2)

Simon Shaw (5)

Louis Deacon (4)

Flankers

Tom Croft (6)

Tom Rees (3)

James Haskell (8)

Michel Lipman (1)

Steffon Armitage (3)

Joe Worsley (5)

Chris Robshaw (1)

Lewis Moody (5)

Number Eights

Nick Easter (13)

Jordan Crane (1)

James Haskell (2)

– John O'Sullivan