England's inspirational skipper Martin Johnson believes it is a refelction of his side's standing in world rugby that a Grand Slam is expected rather than hoped for in the Six Nations Championship.

Johnson, who leads England into their opening clash with Scotland on Saturday commented, "In the mid-1980s, England would have been more than happy to lose a game and still win the championship, but things have moved on since then," he said.

"We are expected to win virtually every game we play. People have already been talking about the Grand Slam, but as players, we don't take too much notice.

"We were not happy with just being Six Nations champions last year or the year before, because we wanted to win every game, yet we know how difficult it is going to be this season.

"We've got to play Scotland and France away, so all we are doing is preparing for the first game. We are not worrying about the fifth match in the tournament or a Grand Slam at any point.

"Obviously we would like to win a Grand Slam for the achievement of actually doing it. We should have beaten Wales to win it in 1999, but these things happen in sport and it is not something that will keep me awake at night."

England now return north of the border with six survivors from that side - Austin Healey, Mike Tindall, Ben Cohen, Jonny Wilkinson, Richard Hill and Neil Back - and they could experience similar conditions.

"We shouldn't be taken by surprise this time. There will be no excuses with the weather, if it is wet and windy, then we should be ready for it."

And Johnson has no qualms that an England front-five minus injured front-row forwards Dorian West and Phil Vickery, together with the demoted Danny Grewcock, will be up for their task.

"It is going to be a bit different without the likes of those players, but Julian White (prop Vickery's replacement) is as good a scrummager on the tighthead as I've played with, and Steve Thompson is the country's form hooker, he's tremendously powerful.

"We are expecting a tough game. Certainly Scotland's line-out is defensively one of the best in the world - they've put teams like Australia and New Zealand under a lot of pressure in that area - and in Scott Murray, Scotland possess one of the best players in the world at defending line-outs.

"We won't be harking back to what happened in 2000. Scotland outplayed England that day, but if we start thinking about it, then we won't be in the right frame of mind for Saturday.

"We want to win the game, and if you are not totally concentrated on it, then you will get it wrong. We've got to go out, play hard-nosed rugby and impose ourselves on the opposition."