Wood: England won't miss Johnson

Keith Wood says England can cope without Johnson

Irish skipper Keith Wood believes England will not miss his opposite number Martin Johnson when the two sides meet in the Six Nations in Dublin on Saturday.

England's hopes of claiming the Grand Slam were dealt a massive blow when their inspirational leader was ruled out through injury.

But as the Irish launched a charm offensive towards their English opponents Wood insisted that Clive Woodward's side can live without the Lions' skipper.

"Johnno's the best captain I've played under," said Wood.

Martin Johnson misses England trip to Dublin

"He is a fantastic player and we have the utmost respect for him.

"But England are one of the few teams in the world that can afford to lose players of the calibre of Johnson as well as Dallaglio and Vickery because they have a particularly good structure.

"The way they have got their act together, over the last 24 months, especially means they have a serious number of players in contention for places."

The Irish management team joined in with the praise for English rugby as they announced an unchanged side from last Saturday's win over Wales.

Coach Warren Gatland said: "I see England as strong favourites.

"They are probably the number two side in the world at the moment behind Australia given their record in the past two years and the teams they have beaten.

"Okay, they have slipped up a couple of times chasing the Grand Slam but they are a world-class team.

'Tremendous speed'

"They have fantastic individual players and I think we are up against it on Saturday."

Assistant coach Eddie O'Sullivan pinpointed England's back three of full-back Ian Balshaw and wingers Jason Robinson and Dan Luger as a potentially lethal threat.

He added: "I think it would be hard to get a better, more dynamic and explosive, attacking back three.

"They have tremendous speed and an ability to break the game up and they will be a bit of handful to be facing on Saturday."