"He is everything I expected him to be and I'm excited to work with him. He's the kind of guy you don't want to let down." England star James Haskell on the arrival of Johnno.

After a stand-out season during which he helped Wasps to the Premiership title, James Haskell could be forgiven for starting to believe in all the headlines heralding him as the next big thing and casting an eye towards the Lions' trip to South Africa next summer.

But on the eve of another gruelling campaign the back row powerhouse is refusing to get carried away with what might be.

"The only carrot I've got is winning with Wasps," commented the 23-year-old at O2's Scrum on the Beach event in London this week.

"I see things in rugby as stepping stones, I love being the heir apparent having only been in rugby for a relatively short period, and since a young age I've seen how to do things well and how to do things wrong.

"If you if you go with the approach of an end goal you'll slip up and things can be unfortunate, I think with Daniel [Cipriani], it hit home to me, even though I've had my own injury things, when you're flying high all it takes is one injury to set you back.

"If you play well for Wasps then you may play for England and if England play well you get on Lions tours.

"I've got challenges of my own with the Wasps team let alone anything else."

Haskell's focus is on cementing his place at Wasps and it is the daily challenge he faces at club level that he insists will keep his feet firmly on the ground while fans and journalists alike continue to highlight his rise to prominence.

"Potential is one thing, delivering is another," commented the Wasps Academy graduate.

"I don't feel any pressure at all at the moment, I think that I'm always very flattered by what people say but I've got so much of my game to work on.

"I was reminded of that at the England camp two weeks ago, and Shaun [Edwards], Leon [Holden] and Geech [Ian McGeechan] at Wasps are always on my case so at the risk of sounding boring it's about holding my Wasps place down and everything else is going to be a bonus.

"If I can do well with my rugby then everything else emerges from that. To be honest I don't have to prove anything to anyone, I just need to get in that team and play well and that's the attitude I've had up to now."

After being named in Martin Johnson's England Elite Player Squad earlier this summer, Haskell is set to add to his tally of 8 caps with this autumn's internationals - and he offered an insight into the new-look England set-up.

"He appreciates a joke and the banter," Haskell said of the World Cup-winning former England captain. "I think he is everything I expected him to be and I'm excited to work with him. He's the kind of guy you don't want to let down."

Haskell also revealed that the new England boss has made an immediate impression.

"Martin Johnson has obviously come in and swept through with a new broom, and there's a lot of honesty.

"My experience playing with England has only been 8 caps I haven't been around for years or in any World Cup Finals or anything, but I certainly know the atmosphere has changed straight away, people have come out and spoken honestly from the players point of view, the coaches have said what they want to achieve, and I think to be honest with you we're heading in a positive direction.

"There's different ways of doing things and I think Martin Johnson has come in and brought some fresh ideas, a new perspective that has rejuvenated everything.

"He will not accept excuses because he has only recently finished playing a few years ago and he knows what it takes to make World Cup Finals, he has standards, and already he's said listen, you'll be treated like adults and you'll be given everything to make sure there's a winning and successful team, but it's give and take and down to the players. And I 100% agree with that, I'm not one of these people that thinks a manager should be removed if the team does not do well - because at the end of the day it is the players who take the field not the manager."

On the domestic stage, Wasps will embark on their Premiership campaign next weekend without the formidable presence of Lawrence Dallaglio who retired at the end of last season.

However Haskell is confident that they have the personnel to minimise the loss of their talismanic skipper to whom he has long been compared.

"If you look at the squad we've got, Josh Lewsey, Simon Shaw - guys with strong personalities and opinions and the thing about Wasps which I've always said there's no egos or superstars. Obviously Lawrence was a little bit different he was always captain, always the figurehead.

"I don't want to be disrespectful to Lawrence, his absence, he finished at the end of the season, he had a great final season, had all the impact, he'll still be there behind the scenes but as soon as that season finished we moved on right away.

"Maybe in the middle of the season you might come back to me and look at our results and maybe say we didn't - but the way we've prepared and the attitude of all the players is really positive, we know who the leaders are, Lawrence has a certain je ne sais quoi about him, we may not have someone exactly like that around, but there's a lot of hard work been done and a real good work ethic at Wasps and everyone is fighting for their place in the team.

"I'm not going to start using quotes like Wasps are going to be the champions, but I do genuinely feel we have a quality squad of players that could cope."

And as for those predicting that he will fill the void left by the popular Dallaglio?

"It's very flattering to be compared to someone like Lawrence, who won everything there is to win and been a great club servant. If I can emulate some of his successes then I'll be a very happy many by the time I retire.

"But it's up to other people to make these comparisons."

James Haskell was speaking at the O2 Scrum on the Beach event at London's Trafalgar Square. The event is part of the RFU's Play On campaign that is sponsored by O2. Building on the success of the Go Play Rugby recruitment campaign, the initiative aims to keep school and university players connected with the game so that the number of participants continues to grow.

Play On also provides a network of rugby contacts, O2 Pathfinders, who will help players find new teams and places to play. Visit www.playonrugby.com to find out more.