TJ expects Glasgow battle

By Mark Stevens

Tom Johnson says regaining his place within the Exeter Chiefs starting line-up is his immediate goal ahead of the new 2013/14 season.

Having made his first start for the Devon club since January in last Saturday's pre-season win over Bristol, the England international is hoping another big display against Glasgow Warriors this weekend will bolster his chances of featuring in Exeter's seasonal opener at Northampton Saints on September 7.

The all-action forward was enjoying a terrific season last term until a damaging knee injury sustained in the Heineken Cup against Leinster in January sidelined him for much of the second half of the year.

It was certainly a cruel blow for the 31-year-old, but he duly worked his way back to full fitness and was included on England's summer tour to South America.

Although Johnson featured against the Barbarians and a South American Select XV, England head coach Stuart Lancaster opted to use Gloucester's Matt Kvesic for the two Test matches against Argentina.

Since then Kvesic has been elevated ahead of Johnson into England's Senior EPS squad with the Chiefs star dropping down into the Saxons squad alongside club-mate Jack Nowell.

Johnson knows the only way he can get back into Lancaster's plans is to keep producing at club level - and that's exactly what he intends to do over the coming weeks and months.

He said: “It is a motivating factor, but I need to make sure I concentrate on my day job at Exeter to have an input there. That is all I’m concentrating on for the moment.

“The competition in our back-row is fierce. There were some great performances from the likes of Ben White and Dave Ewers, while the bench came on and did really well against Bristol. There is a lot of competition across the board here and I just need to work on earning a place in the squad here first.

“I’m just enjoying playing rugby, to be honest. We have a good bunch of boys here and we have had a good pre-season. I had three years without a proper pre-season under my belt and I have had that now, so I’m feeling quite fit and the physios have done a great job on me.”

With pre-season wins over Scarlets (23-15) and Bristol (51-7) already accrued by Rob Baxter's side, Johnson believes there is still room for improvement from the Chiefs.

He added: “The boys turned up and played well, but there were some mistakes out there. As forwards, we need to up our game in the set-piece a little bit. But the intent to play, the enthusiasm and enjoyment was out there.

“The boys were really buzzing and it has been like that all week. That is pretty much all you can ask for. There are things we can tighten up and improve on, but we are quite happy with that performance against Bristol.”

The Chiefs know they are likely to face a much tougher examination against Glasgow Warriors this weekend and Johnson is bracing himself for a real battle.

“Glasgow are a first-class team, they are in the Heineken Cup – this will be a big game on Saturday for us,” said Johnson. “We expect them to play a bit more than Bristol did, so our defence will have to step up a gear. We were pretty solid all the way through, it was a shame to concede at the end against Bristol, but we know Glasgow will threaten us from all areas of the park.”