Ben Youngs, Ben Foden, Manu Tuilagi and Tom Croft also crossed with Jonny Wilkinson kicking three conversions and a penalty and his replacement Toby Flood converting four.

England now face Scotland, who play Argentina on Sunday, in what could be a decider for who tops Pool B and Johnson cut a much more buoyant figure after his team set up such a scenario.

“These games can be awkward in a way and I thought we kept our discipline pretty well,” said Johnson. “It was job done and we now go into a massive week next week.

"Romania’s priority may be Georgia in the week and winning that game but they certainly came and had a crack.

“It was one of those games where things maybe break for you differently than it would do in other games, you’ve just got to keep your discipline and play some decent stuff.”

And Johnson, who has seen Andrew Sheridan and Nick Easter both pick up knocks while in New Zealand, the former flying home as a result, confirmed England escaped the clash without injury.

“Romania worked as hard as they could for 80 minutes and had a real crack at us,” he added. “You have these games at the World Cup, we got off the field with no injuries so that’s the main thing for us.”