England followed up wins over Wales and Italy with an impressive 17-9 victory over grand slam champions France at Twickenham opening the door to a grand slam of their own.

And Tindall, who lined up alongside Johnson on 24 occasions, believes with the World Cup winning captain settling into his role on the sidelines, England are going to improve.

“It was tough when Johnno came in. You have to give people time to develop and find out what they want to do and how they want to approach things,” said the 32-year-old who has taken over the captaincy from the injured Lewis Moody.

“It's been a building process with all the coaches, with players starting to trust that and react to it.

“We're finally getting to where the coaches are comfortable listening to what the payers say and taking it onboard and vice versa.

“I don't think in the past we have got the best out of all the players whereas now we seem to have found a way and a style that everyone wants to play, everyone can get involved in and everyone can express themselves.

“He's [Johnson] grown into his role but we've always known about him having that ability to relax and have fun.

“That all comes from having a successful team and we're fortunate at the moment because that's what we've got.”