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Johnson: Zara no distraction

Dunedin - England manager Martin Johnson has insisted the team will not be distracted ahead of Saturday's match against Romania by the arrival in Dunedin of Zara Phillips.

Phillips, the granddaughter of Britain and New Zealand's Queen Elizabeth, is due to watch husband Mike Tindall in Rugby World Cup action for the first time this weekend.

Tindall has found himself in a media storm after being pictured with a mystery blonde during England's alcohol-fuelled night out in Queenstown, where they were relaxing after the veteran centre had captained them to a 13-9 win in their tournament opener against Argentina.

At a Thursday press conference, Johnson effectively blocked Tindall from answering any questions about the incident, insisting all the players had done was have a drink and that England had "moved on".

But the presence of Phillips in New Zealand will, inevitably, maintain interest in the issue.

Johnson has always insisted he is happy to have players' wives and girlfriends with the squad, and some have already joined the England party at their Dunedin hotel.

"It's not unusual. Players' wives are often around before games so it's not any big deal for this squad," Johnson told British-based rugby reporters after Thursday's press conference.

"They are used to players' wives coming in and she (Phillips) is one of the players' wives.

"She's high-profile - but our guys train with Jonny Wilkinson every day and he's pretty high-profile."

Security camera footage from Queenstown's Altitude Bar, which at one stage showed an unidentified woman kissing the top of Tindall's head, was uploaded on to the internet and led to a rash of stories the Gloucester midfielder, Phillips and England could all have done without.

A bouncer has since been charged with illegally obtaining the video tape from the bar, while a spokesperson for Tindall and Phillips has insisted the woman pictured with the 2003 World Cup-winner is an old friend.

But Tindall did not reveal the identity of the woman in the tape at Thursday's press conference.

And when Tindall, who denied the past week had been challenging for him and said he hoped his own form would hold up "fine", was asked if he wanted to show some "contrition", an annoyed Johnson cut in before he could answer.

"I said to you last week what happened, the guys went out and had a drink. We had that conversation last week," said Johnson.

England beat Georgia 41-10 in Dunedin last week to make it two wins out of two in Pool B as they bid to reach a third successive World Cup final.

But Johnson, England's World Cup-winning captain eight years ago, was unhappy with a "sloppy" performance and an error count which saw 11 penalties conceded in the first-half alone.

"For some of them it's a first World Cup and it's about understanding what they're in," Johnson explained. "It takes a bit of doing.

"Against Georgia I said 'guys, this is not good enough for progressing to where we want to be'. We've got to go out there and be relentless and ruthless," former lock Johnson added.

England may be fielding their strongest available team this weekend but Romania have made 11 changes ahead of their final pool clash against Georgia - arguably both sides most 'winnable' game of the tournament.

However, Johnson said of Romania: "They will come out and give it their absolute all. They are a proud rugby nation."

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