England head to Cardiff on the back of a laboured and uninspiring 36-11 victory over Italy while Wales have soared into the top four of the world rankings after an emphatic win in Scotland.

England’s performance against the Azzurri was several leagues below those produced by Ireland in their victory over France and Wales at Murrayfield.

Johnson has turned to the fit-again Mike Tindall in midfield and Joe Worsley to provide a physical presence at open-side to counter Wales’ mobile back row.

And he has called on England to start bearing their teeth and hunt down the title favourites.

“There has always been a big feeling down in Cardiff that they want to beat England,” said Johnson.

“There will be passion. The Welsh enjoy having a successful rugby team and they are playing some attractive rugby so it will be doubly difficult.

“We don’t have that much expectation on us and we need to go there and fight. We can also play but we need to battle and quieten the crowd down.

“Being underdogs is always the easier mindset to get into. We won the last game and I would like to keep our fortunes heading in the same direction.

“We know as a squad we can play better than we did last week. It is about improving.

“It will be a big challenge going down there. Wales are a very confident team, very skilful, they want to play the game at a high tempo.

“They scrummaged very well against Scotland, their lineout was pretty good. They are a strong side and that is why they have got the results they have in the last year. They have confidence and momentum and we need to stop that.”