Wednesday 30 September 2015 13:08, UK
World Cup winning-captain Martin Johnson says England's must-win clash with Australia at Twickenham on Saturday is too close to call.
The 28-25 defeat to Wales last weekend left England in dire straits and another against the Wallabies would almost certainly see them become the first host nation not to progress from the pool stage.
Johnson is the only Englishman to lift the World Cup, Jonny Wilkinson famously kicking a last-gasp drop goal to beat Australia in the final in Sydney in 2003.
Asked if he felt England would beat their old rivals on Saturday night, he said: "I just don't know
"They can, of course, and there's no reason why not - and remember, they played pretty well for an hour against Wales.
"But Australia are always a dangerous team. When you play against them, you know you probably have to score 25 points as you know they are going to score tries.
"It sounds obvious, of course, but they just need to win on Saturday.
"It's essential that they get the Wales game out of their system, which I'm sure they will have done after the reviews, and focus everything on Australia.
"If they win that, then it's game on."
Johnson said he was frustrated by some aspects of England's approach against Wales, particularly after getting themselves into such a strong position when leading by 10 points early in the second half.
"I just felt they stopped playing a bit," he said.
"It seemed they were just trying to hold on to what they had and I was watching it thinking 'no' when they kept kicking the ball away.
"There was that moment in the second half when we were on the attack and Wales had just lost two backs to injuries and we opted to try to drive it. I felt that was the time to try to move the ball, though of course it's always easy to make those calls when you're not out there."
