'Michelin Man' suits help injury-hit England play safe as they prepare for autuum Test series They are essentially a big pair of cycling shorts packed with foam and big shoulder pads and body armour. It stops the bone-on-bone contact. The only thing you can hurt if you get it wrong is perhaps the head-on-head tackle. Johnson said the tackling bouts, which involved backs and forwards, had a serious purpose. It wasn't just about smashing the hell out of each other, we progressively stepped it up to make sure the technique is right and the feet are in the right order. Johnson said the intensity of the sessions was indicative of the heightened sense of a club spirit in the squad. It is a mood that Johnson believes will give England a new edge in their bid to prove they are now capable of taking their game to a higher level against the southern hemisphere big three of Australia, South Africa and world champions New Zealand. "England had a very good Six Nations and there was a lot of team-building, the culture was right and kicked on in South Africa," Johnson said. Going away to such a tough place, everyone had to be tight and support the midweek team and things like that builds culture. You realise you are out there for each other. You see guys killing themselves on the fitness test and you go,"I know he will have my back and I don't want to let him down." It feels like a club environment. Training is fun but if mistakes happen, the individual gets annoyed because he feels he is letting the team down. And before, when training was finished, people used to scatter for the showers, but know people are out there doing 15 to 20 minutes of extra training. The squad also had motivational talks from Tour de France and Olympic gold medallist Bradley Wiggins and 2003 World Cup winner Will Greenwood,. "We got some very good messages from them both," Johnson said. The boys loved Bradley, he came across as a really down to earth guy and had good craic with the boys. We could ask him questions and it was over too quickly unfortunately. Will talked to us about the pain and the barriers he had to go through between 1999 and winning the World Cup in 2003. Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Official ­Partner to England Rugby, is giving away a two-night break in Europe every time England score a try in the QBE Internationals. Go to facebook.com/MarriottHotelsUK.