Johnson all set to make amends in Twickenham tie

Martin Johnson didn't like sitting in the stands when England lost to France last week.

The England captain has a chance to make amends today when he rejoins the team to play France at Twickenham in its final warmup before October's World Cup.

England coach Clive Woodward rested Johnson and the first choice team in Marseilles last weekend, who watched as France won 17-16.

Today Johnson leads a strong team which includes Jonny Wilkinson, Jason Robinson, Steve Thompson and Richard Hill.

For many players, it's their first taste of rugby since a successful tour of Australia. Woodward has named 11 of the side that beat Australia 25-14 in June.

"Clive's plan from the start was to play us against France at home," Johnson said.

"We would have liked to have been on the field against them in Marseilles last week -- that was a big test match.

"We're disappointed with aspects of last weekend's game and obviously the fact we lost it.

"But we've now been given a chance to put that result right. A lot of the guys didn't play last weekend so they're looking forward to their chance to compete in a test match."

Johnson said it was difficult to watch from the sidelines.

"The last time I played was against Australia on June 21 so it wasn't easy sitting in the stands on Saturday and watching a full-blooded test match," Johnson said.

"A lot of us wished we could be out there playing because it must have been a great atmosphere. But we will get our chance this week, so we'll take it and play well."

Today's match will be the last chance to impress before Woodward names his 30-man World Cup squad on Monday.

France's win ended England's winning run of 14 consecutive test match victories.

England beat France on the way to winning the Six Nations earlier this year, but the French beat the English to take the title last year.

"If we meet each other in the World Cup, that's a different day and a different time," Johnson said.

"If France beat us and they've won the last two against us then maybe that will count for something. But it will start 0-0 on Saturday. Hopefully we'll play well, put in a good performance and carry that into the World Cup."

Meanwhhile, Ireland will be bidding for a third win in their World Cup warm-up matches when they face Scotland at Murrayfield today in what will be the final hit out for both sides.

The World Cup begins in Australia on Oct. 10, with both teams needing to name their final squads for the tournament by Wednesday.

Ireland seem to be the more confident of the two sides, coming off a 35-12 victory over an experimental Wales side in Dublin on August 16 and a 61-6 rout of Italy last weekend.

Scotland beat Italy 47-15 two weeks ago but then turned in a woeful performance last week in losing 23-9 to Wales, something that coach Ian McGeechan was keen to put behind them.

"Last Saturday was dreadfully disappointing," said McGeechan. "We want to get a win out of this last warm-up game. But Ireland are very confident. So we have to match them and we have to produce our best performance yet.

"Ireland have kept strong combinations together. Their players are confident after their tour in the southern hemisphere and crucially they haven't collected many injuries," he said.

Scotland, however are beset with injury concerns and will be without first-choice forwards Tom Smith, Bruce Douglas, Scott Murray and Jason White.