With the World Champion Springboks next in line for England, Martin Johnson will be hoping that his new look side have learnt some lessons from last Saturday's defeat by Australia at Twickenham.


There's no doubt that Johnno has faced a pretty tough baptism of fire this autumn, with all three of the Tri-Nations heavyweights visiting headquarters. That said, I feel that missed opportunities and the fact that England gave up seven penalties will leave him feeling that the team didn't really do itself justice.


Although he's given a few penalties away in his time, Johnno will feel that those points were gifted to Australia and he will be working hard to convince the team that they can compete with this strength of opposition by eradicating that sort of carelessness from their game.


There's certainly going to be no room for complacency this weekend with a South African side featuring the likes of Bryan Habana, Victor Matfield and Schalk Burger arriving with the express intention of making it six wins in a row against England.


Some will give England hope by pointing to the fact that the Springboks struggled to get past a tenacious Scotland at Murrayfield last week. Many are saying that the squad is on its last legs, having played an almost constant stream of test matches since lifting the Webb Ellis Cup in Paris last autumn.


I am pretty certain that come Saturday, though, they'll be more than up for it. As someone who has run into these guys a few times on the international scene, I can tell you that there is never any let up in intensity.


Last legs? I'll wait to see how hard the tackles they are putting in come the 79th minute are before making that sort of judgement.


I think it is with this in mind that Johnno has opted to bring back James Haskell at blindside flanker. I thought he was one of the few England players to come through the summer tour to New Zealand with credit and it can only be the slow start that Wasps have made to the Premiership season that has kept him out of the starting XV. By recalling him, Johnno has beefed up the back row as well as upping the number of my old Wasps team-mates in the starting XV to seven.


In making only the one change from a side that by no means disgraced itself last week, I think the new manager is demonstrating that he sees consistency of selection as a key element in the development of this England side.


This will give the younger players and especially those who only made their international debuts a couple of weeks ago, a real confidence boost. Even the more experienced guys such as Phil Vickery and Andrew Sheridan will be boosted by the support they are being shown, despite the front row's unexpected shortcomings against Australia.


Johnno has got to plan for the future. The next Rugby World Cup is three years away and I have no doubt that the likes of Danny Cipriani and Haskell will be firmly established by then.


We may not defeat the reigning world champions and I suspect dreams of a rare victory over the All Blacks are unlikely to come true but if the manager comes out of these Autumn internationals with a fixed idea of the XV he wants to take the field against Italy in February then that is step forward for the new England.


Clive Woodward managed a draw against the Wallabies in his first match in charge but had to wait another five games to secure his first win, albeit a big one, against Wales in the 1998 5 Nations Championship. I remember being part of that side and I can tell you that the wait was long enough.


In a little over five years' time, though things had changed a bit and Johnno was pretty instrumental in that turnaround too.

Lawrence Dallaglio is an ambassador for Greene King IPA, the Official Beer of England Rugby.