RugbyU: England on alert against Australia

Johnson, who brought in hooker Dylan Hartley instead of Steve Thompson in the only change for this weekend's match at Twickenham, said lax defending would be punished by a Wallabies side he rates as more potent than New Zealand.

England were beaten 26-16 by New Zealand on Saturday, the match effectively won and lost in the first quarter when the All Blacks took advantage of slipshod play by Johnson's men to race into a 14-0 lead.

"We can't do that again this week against Australia," Johnson said at England's training base here Tuesday. "You can't let a team like that get a jump on you as they are very good.

"In some ways they (Australia) are more dangerous than the All Blacks in the way they can break for tries. They get around you and the support is sharp. We really need to get those bits sorted out. It's about speed and intensity."

"Our reaction needs to improve, we need to react quicker. These are fixable things, and we need to fix them quickly before the weekend."

Australia's youthful backline has become the talk of international rugby this year following a series of vibrant displays, most notably the thrilling victory over New Zealand in Hong Kong.

Johnson said the Wallabies strength lay in their unpredictability.

"You have to be very sharp. They play with a huge amount of variation, maybe more than the All Blacks. You cannot say 'this is what they are going to do'. They may do something different this week," he said.

"They are strong runners and we need to be strong in the tackle."

Johnson meanwhile said England must reduce their mistakes if they are to have any chance of defeating the Australians following an error-ridden performance against New Zealand.

"You can't make the mistakes that we made and win at this level. We were a little disjointed at times and we have to take care of that," Johnson said.

"Attacking wise for a first game (of the autumn series) we were better than we have been in a first game for a while."

Australia are riding high after their victories over New Zealand in Hong Kong last month and Wales in Cardiff last weekend.

However the Wallabies are bracing for a ferocious English onslaught in the forwards, where loosehead prop Andrew Sheridan and tighthead Dan Cole join Hartley to form a formidable front row.

Sheridan has fond memories of playing Australia, almost single-handedly destroying the Wallabies scrum on his 2005 Twickenham debut and producing another immense contribution in the 2007 World Cup quarter-finals.

Stade Francais's Tom Palmer is reunited with Courtney Lawes at lock while captain Lewis Moody is once again joined by Tom Croft and Nick Easter in the back row.

Behind the scrum, Johnson has kept faith with scrum-half Ben Youngs and fly-half Toby Flood, with Shontayne Hape partnering Mike Tindall at centre.

The back three comprise rugby league convert Chris Ashton on the right wing, with Sale's Mark Cueto on the opposite flank. Northampton's Ben Foden is at fullback again.

Johnson has also made one change to the replacements, veteran lock Simon Shaw returning in place of Dave Attwood who misses out on the match squad.

England (15-1)

Ben Foden; Chris Ashton, Mike Tindall, Shontayne Hape, Mark Cueto; Toby Flood, Ben Youngs; Nick Easter, Lewis Moody (capt), Tom Croft; Tom Palmer, Courtney Lawes; Dan Cole, Dylan Hartley, Andrew Sheridan

Replacements: Steve Thompson, David Wilson, Simon Shaw, Hendrie Fourie, Danny Care, Charlie Hodgson, Delon Armitage.