ENGLAND centre Will Greenwood hit back at South African skipper Corne Krige yesterday – hilariously accusing him of being the shortest captain in world rugby.
His riposte came after the notorious Krige accused Johnson of being “one of the dirtiest captains in Test rugby”.
The experienced Greenwood, who generally treated the newly-arrived, ultra-serious South African journalists with mirth, admitted: “If you don’t go in to a Test against South Africa fully prepared, you’ll come a cropper.
“They’re ranked sixth in the world but there’s lots of spice added to our meeting on that Saturday. I can’t tell how the South Africans are going to play.
“But we’ve got to concentrate on our first game against Georgia on Sunday.”
After the first training session at a police-protected school in Perth, Greenwood was clearly in a relaxed mood at England’s Sheraton headquarters.
He said: “It was nice today to get on a rugby pitch and have the focus of a game in seven days. Nice to be able to get in to a Test week rather than a pre-season style format.
“We had a great warm down on City Beach, it was great.
“We name the side on Tuesday. At the moment there’s 30 of us fit… and that was the target, to get here with no niggles.
“The stuff we’re looking at and training on are aimed at Georgia specifically.
“We’ve heard Corne Krige’s comments, that he described Martin Johnson as one of the dirtiest captains in international rugby.
“My response? Well, he’s probably the shortest captain in world rugby!
“A lot gets said in these situations. The times when saying something like that would affect us is long gone.
“The South Africans are entitled to say what they want.
“We’re better than the side four years ago which got beaten by the Boks in the quarter final. We’ve eradicated the need for lady luck and relying on the ruck.”
Pressed by a foreign journalist to tell us exactly how much England have improved since 1999, Greenwood finally conceded: “734%”
He grinned: “We’re a lot stronger all round. I’m just glad to be in the England dressing room going in to this World Cup.”