Martin Johnson has welcomed Courtney Lawes' decision to reverse his international retirement and challenged the veteran lock to make England head coach Steve Borthwick's World Cup selection process a 'nightmare'.
Lawes, 37, had ended his England career after the 2023 World Cup semi-final defeat to South Africa, but confirmed in April he was 'officially unretiring from international duty' after joining Sale Sharks from French club Brive.
The former Northampton Saints forward made his official Sale debut at home to Bristol Bears on Saturday, where the visitors secured a 34-24 victory. Lawes was not included in England's 36-player training camp for the upcoming Nations Championship this month.
Johnson: Competition is key
'Nothing is impossible,' Johnson, England's World Cup-winning captain, told Metro. 'But you'd want the other players in that position to say: no, that's not happening.'
'It's competitive and we want it to be. The more competitive it is to get in the England team, the better for everyone and the better for us as fans. You want layers of top-class players and you want the coach having a nightmare trying to pick a team because he's got so many good players in form, fit and ready to go.'
'So if Courtney is throwing his hat in the ring, that's fantastic. It's up to everyone else to make sure their hat in the ring is a better hat!'
With the 2027 World Cup in Australia 12 months away, Borthwick will need to reduce his squad to 33 players. Henry Pollock, who broke into the international arena in January 2025 and earned a British & Irish Lions call-up, is among the leading contenders.
Lewsey example
Johnson declined to name specific bolters but recalled how Josh Lewsey was not 'on the radar' before his rise to World Cup glory in 2003. 'These things can happen and Josh wasn't a young, young player either at that point. He had been around a little bit,' Johnson said.
'Things can happen, guys will get hurt unfortunately, guys will lose form unfortunately in all countries around the world and other guys will come through. Some players might come back and some young players might come through, all of these things will happen to any degree. Who it's going to happen to, I don't know.'
England resume their Nations Championship campaign against Australia on November 8, having beaten Fiji and Argentina but lost 45-21 to South Africa in July. Johnson was encouraged by England's performance in their final Six Nations match against France, despite the side finishing fifth in the tournament.
Grinding out wins
'Good teams can find a way to win in all circumstances even when you're not having a great day, whatever reason that may be, and that happens to all teams, and you can always grind out a win,' Johnson said. 'Grinding out a win is often, in an ugly game, a beautiful thing because it gives that team that knowledge that we can grind out a win.'
Johnson also praised Australia, who remain unbeaten under new coach Les Kiss after five matches, including a win over South Africa in Perth. 'Australia is a great sporting country, it's a demanding sporting country and they like winners,' he said.
Johnson spoke to Metro during SADS Week as patron of the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust, which promotes free sudden cardiac arrest training through UK Coaching. 'The message is simple: sudden cardiac arrests can happen to anyone at anytime,' he said. 'The message is simple: learn CPR and be comfortable that if you had to get a defibrillator onto someone that you could deliver that because it could happen.'
