Filed under: Rugby Union, Six Nations, Rugby World Cup, Internationals, England Rugby, Ireland Rugby
As one of the most physical and brutal second rows ever to play the game, Martin Johnson knows all about scars - both dishing them out and getting them in return.His use of the word in his assessment of England's loss to Ireland was no accident. He is hurting, his team are hurting and the Aviva Stadium loss will leave a mark that will take a long time to heal.
Yet if history should teach Johnson anything, it is the idea that he will one day look back on Ireland's win as a positive because he can now use the pain, the disappointment and the feeling of lost opportunity as the motivation he needs to keep driving England on.
Unfortunately for Johnson, he will have woken up on Sunday morning with a sickening sense of deja vu after being involved in and around England sides in the past who threw the Grand Slam away.
In 1999, Johnson played against Wales when England lost 32-31, he was in the England set-up when Scotland defeated England 19-13 a year later and in 2001 he was injured and was helpless as Ireland again prevented Clive Woodward's side from winning the Grand Slam.
As has been documented in both of their memoirs, Woodward and Johnson sought to use the pain of those defeats as a driving force.
Losing a Grand Slam is a wonderful way to focus the mind and increase a side's intensity and Johnson's defeats as a player ultimately helped pave the way for England to win the World Cup in 2003.
Put simply, Johnson and the rest of that England side had had enough of under-performing, of being pilloried and of tasting defeat when it mattered most.
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They used the memories of those losses to create a mentality that meant when it came to the crunch, they refused to let it happen again.
It is of course far too early to say they will do that at the World Cup in November but the raw emotion of losing against Ireland should give England all the impetus they need to try and avoid it again at all costs.
Johnson said: "There's a scar there now and we've got to wear that scar a little bit. We can make that a good thing or a bad thing from where we go from here.
"Do you have to get your scars and bruises in before you go and win something? You hope not, but probably you do. Ireland had theirs before they won their grand slam and I certainly had mine before I won ours in 2003.
"We're devastated at losing. We've never gone down the the easy route of saying 'Oh well, we're learning and we're young'. We came here to win and we we weren't good enough on the day."
Flanker Tom Wood added: "It pretty much feels like you've had your heart ripped out and what hurts the most is we never really gave ourselves a chance."
"I don't really know where I am emotionally.
"We didn't come here for scars and lessons, we came for the Grand Slam. They gave us a good kicking."
Raw, honest and accurate.
Both Johnson and Wood's words make for uncomfortable reading but they should also be seen as a turning point for this England side because if Johnson can harness the pain his squad is currently feeling then who knows where he can take his men in the future?
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Source: http://www.fanhouse.co.uk/2011/03/21/martin-johnson-needs-to-harness-six-nations-pain-just-like-h/
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