Johnson picks out Armitage for special praise
Martin Johnson looking ahead to bigger challenges
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Saturday, 08, Nov 2008 09:08
England manager Martin Johnson praised the performance of debutant Delon Armitage in the 39-13 victory over the Pacific Islanders.
The London Irish full-back didn't score any of England's five tries, but his all round display earned him the Man-of-the-Match award.
"I thought he was outstanding. He looked great," said Johnson."He has trained like that. But some players train like that and don't play like that. I just said to him 'I don't think I have ever seen a better debut'."
Johnson's reign as England manger got off to a bright start as his young team, which had five debutants, played with good attacking flair. Paul Sackey (2), Danny Cipriani, Nick Kennedy and Lee Mears all managed to score tries.
But Johnson has warned his young Lions that things only get harder from here as they have fixtures against southern hemisphere giants New Zealand, Australia, and world champions South Africa to look forward to.
"There were areas of the game where we need to improve a lot," said Johnson. "We have got an exciting young team. It's inexperienced, there are not a huge amount of caps out there.
"At the end of this series, we will be a far more experienced side and we will learn along the way. There's lots to talk about before Australia next Saturday, but this was the team's first game together."