As Martin Johnson strolled into Twickenham for his first day at the office, it took only the slightest leap of imagination to see men in tweed jackets holding banners that screamed: “Welcome to Hell.”

The iconic former captain has, to a degree, placed his future in the hands of committee men to whom he would not have given the time of day five or six years ago. However, if there were doubts, they didn't show and that, of course, is part of the reason why Johnson earned the job in the first place.

Sat alongside him in the Six Nations Suite was the RFU’s director of elite rugby, Rob Andrew, who has skilfully negotiated a passage through a tough past nine months. It takes a kind of class to survive the crass mistake of not seriously pursuing Shaun Edwards when he was available and Andrew has that. He and Johnson were both smartly dressed, both looked fit and less than their age. One of them wore a tie.

Yet do not feel any pity for the open-shirted Johnson among the politicians of the game because he knows what he has gotten himself into. About a year ago he was travelling from pillar to post on the corporate course, pressing the flesh, offering words of wisdom, earning easy money but feeling far from fulfilled.

There was one event where he met the wonderfully affable Sir Geoff Hurst and as they left for home, Hurst said he looked forward to seeing him again “on the circuit”. “Oh no, you won’t,” thought Johnson, but he is far too polite to say anything like that.

When England came looking for him he was easily found and it helped that the Rugby Football Union was so desperate to have him, he could have insisted upon his wife, Kay, being named forwards coach. She is, after all, a Kiwi.

However, Johnson settled for an impressive salary and the right to name his own coaching team. Being a reasonable man, he has given his old Leicester teammate, John Wells, and the defence coach, Mike Ford, the chance to do better under his direction, for better they will have to do. Ford would not have missed the moment on Tuesday when, in answer to a question about the two defeats in New Zealand last month, Johnson spoke of how rarely teams win when they concede nine tries in two Tests.

The member of the coaching team yet to be formally appointed, Brian Smith, will prove to be the most influential member of Johnson’s team. Asked if Smith would be head coach to Johnson’s manager, the new boss was reluctant to commit to titles and joked that when he played for England he had no idea of the titles assigned to the different coaches. Which serves to prove that in his dealings with journalistic inquiry, Johnson can be more evasive than he ever was with ball in hand.

However, Smith will play a key role, both in terms of the preparation of training sessions and in the way England play during Johnson’s reign. His track record at London Irish is more impressive than anything Wells or Ford has achieved and those who have played under him at Irish speak highly of his ability to analyse the opposition and devise a game plan best suited to each individual game.

During his days of captaining Clive Woodward’s side Johnson was a formidable filter into which the then England boss poured his ideas. The ones that were not going to work were discouraged and Woodward had the good sense to generally trust Johnson’s judgment. Brilliant at separating the wheat from the chaff, planting the seeds was not really his thing. He will need Smith to take a lot of responsibility and will again reveal his astuteness in discouraging that which will not work.

One wondered if Smith’s in-put was not present in the 32-player elite squad named by Johnson on Tuesday. Three of the players Smith knows best, Nick Kennedy, Shane Geraghty and Pete Richards, were all selected though not one would have been regarded as a definite before the announcement. Though Johnson did make some kind of statement by dropping Nick Easter, Joe Worsley, Ben Kay and Mike Tindall to the second-rank England Saxons squad, July selections tend not to be of much consequence.

By the time the autumn internationals against the best of the southern hemisphere loom into view, there will be injuries and changes made to the squads announced last week. Perhaps the new man was simply saying to Kay, Tindall and Worsley that there would be no old pal’s act, not that they would have expected it.

Johnson did speak at length about the need for discipline in the squad and how on-the-field performance was so often a reflection of what happened off the field. He did not criticise the behaviour on the recent tour and said his response was in part based on information he received from those in charge in New Zealand. “You would have to have been there to get a feel for what was going on,” he said.

Interesting that he should have talked of needing to “have a feel” for what was going on because it was a reminder that for all of his natural understatement, Johnson is very much a people person and adept at connecting with rugby players. There was talk of an England code of conduct but it was entirely predictable that Johnson would insist that when the environment was right, a code of conduct became a piece of paper that players rarely needed to consult.

There were some hints from Johnson about future directions. He said the Leicester wing Tom Varndell’s inclusion in the elite squad was an indication of how he would like to see the team play, there was encouragement for Jonny Wilkinson who he felt would enjoy the new environment, and he said Tom Croft was a player that he would be trying to get on the field as often as he could.

He talked, too, about Riki Flutey’s inclusion and was questioned about the New Zealander’s need to consult with family before agreeing to have a red rose pinned to his lapel. Basically, Johnson was being asked if it was right. He spoke to Flutey and was satisfied with what he had found. Johnson, of course, once played for New Zealand’s under-21 side so he can’t be strident in the matter of eligibility.

Every question was taken and dealt with; no fuss, no drama and very effective. It reminded you of that guy who once jumped at number two in England’s line. Went away for a while but he’s back, very much back. Autumn can hardly come quickly enough.

Johnson’s party ELITE SQUAD
ForwardsT Payne (Wasps), A Sheridan (Sale), M Stevens (Bath), P Vickery (Wasps), G Chuter (Leic), D Hartley* (Northampton), L Mears (Bath), S Borthwick (Saracens), N Kennedy* (L Irish), T Palmer (Wasps), S Shaw (Wasps), T Croft (Leic), J Haskell (Wasps), L Moody (Leic), T Rees (Wasps), J Crane* (Leic), L Narraway (Glouc) BacksJ Lewsey (Wasps), M Tait (Sale), P Sackey (Wasps), J Simpson-Daniel (Glouc), T Varndell (Leic), D Hipkiss (Leicester), J Noon (N’castle), O Barkley (Gloucester), T Flood (Leic), R Flutey* (Wasps, inset), S Geraghty (L Irish), J Wilkinson (N’castle), D Care (Harlequins), H Ellis (Leicester), P Richards (L Irish) * uncapped players

SAXONS
ForwardsJ Forster (Glouc), J Hobson** (Bristol), D Wilson (N’castle), N Wood (Glouc), D Paice** (L Irish), A Titterrell (Glouc), J Ward (Wasps), R Blaze (Leic), L Deacon (Leic), C Jones (Sale), B Kay** (Leic), G Skivington (Wasps), S Armitage (L Irish), T Guest (Harlequins), M Lipman** (Bath), N Easter** (Harlequins), J Worsley* (Wasps) BacksU Monye (Harlequins), T Ojo** (L Irish), D Strettle** (Harlequins), M Tindall** (Glouc), D Waldouck** (Wasps), A Allen (Glouc), D Cipriani (Wasps), A Goode (Leic), R Lamb (Glouc), B Foden (North’ton), P Hodgson (L Irish), R Wigglesworth** (Sale) **demoted from the Elite squad