Martin Johnson not losing sleep over foreign imports in 45-man English Squad – Rugby World Cup 2011
Martin Johnson is content with his selections of the much talked about imports in the English squad. The squad is a good mix of players from many nationalities and has broght about a back lash from English players in the squad.
Martin Johnson's training squad has four New Zealanders, three South Africans and a member of Samoa’s well known sporting family. 13 out of 45 members of the training squad selected for World Cup 2011, are not English which is causing resentment amongst
squad members.
The move by Martin Johnson has not been welcomed and is causing frustration for those local players who were snubbed in favour of foreign members in the final selection of the 2011 World Cup squad. An example is Gloucester's No8 Luke Narraway, who lead England
against Barbarians almost a month ago. Luke was denied a spot on the final squad as Leicester’s Kiwi Thomas made it through instead of him.
Johnson has made a selection hoping for a match winning combination and in this endeavour he did not try to restrict himself to English-born players. He is perfectly fine with his recruits as long as they are capable of sweeping the squad to the Webb Ellis
Trophy.
Johnson has invited Waldrom along with three other New Zealand based players, namely Dylan Hartley, Shontayne Hape, Riki Flutey, Manu Tuilagi, along with the Saracens lock Mouritz Botha and Gloucester's homegrown winger Charlie Sharples. The coach is of
the view that his team has the right sets of strnghths to make them very competitive at the World Cup.
He stated, "No one's said anything to me (about picking foreigners).I just want to see us win. You show your commitment to the cause every day in how you train and play. In every team I played in there was someone who was born outside the UK. They deserve
a chance and I look forward to seeing them have a crack."
Johnson believes that as far as the recent recruits are concerned, no rules have been violated and this is all matter of personal preferences. Also, taking into account the strengths of Alex Corbisiero, Delon Armitage, Tuilagi and Botha, he believes they
will benefit the team in diverse ways.
Johnson also mentioned that there is no resentment seen from fans on account of his choices about players which are not British born. He stated that fans only wish to see their team win, no matter how culturally diverse the selected squad.
The blend of cultures is as evident in the world of sports as elsewhere. There are eight different nations represented in the English squad which is an attempt to achieve a World Cup winning amalgam and Johnson believes that this move should not be under
scrutiny as it is only meant to give the team the best shot at the title.
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