Martin Johnson on Wednesday insisted that a strong performance is of paramount importantance for his England side when they clash with the All Blacks at Twickenham on Saturday.

It will be England's first meeting with the All Blacks since World Cup 99, when New Zealand triumphed 30-16 and tilted Clive Woodward's plans for global supremacy sharply off-course.

"It is England versus New Zealand, and that is as big as you want it to be.

"We haven't beaten New Zealand since 1993, but I don't have a little black book, and I am not going to tick off any boxes if we beat them on Saturday."

Johnson, who will emulate Will Carling as an England captain to claim all three scalps of the southern hemisphere heavyweights if England defeat New Zealand, also dismisses any notion that the All Blacks might suffer from being without so many top players.

All Black coach John Mitchell, the former England assistant to Woodward, has selected a side containing five new caps, left record point scorer Andrew Mehrtens on the bench and omitted star full-back Christian Cullen completely.

It all means that England will start as clear favourites despite their poor record against New Zealand, but Johnson expects a major examination of his side's credentials.

"New Zealand have brought their form team, and we are fine with the players who they've brought over," he added.

"We haven't given a thought to player X or player Y not playing. We've looked at the players they've got, and they are international-class and will have a massive amount of pride playing for New Zealand.

"Our main requirement is to play well. This team hasn't played international rugby together for nearly seven months, so we've got to get back into the intensity and pace of it very quickly."

England have only beaten New Zealand four times from 23 attempts during a 97-year fixture span, and under Woodward they have drawn once and lost on four other occasions.

Johnson, who is back to captain his country eight months and three Tests since he last did the job, is not interested in the history books.

"New Zealand beat us fair and square in 1999. But that is gone now, and I don't look upon Saturday as being a revenge game," Johnson said.

"The 1999 game was one of the most intense matches I have played in. As far as we were concerned, we didn't go out and do what we said we were going to do.

"There were a few specific things that we had planned, but in the heat of the battle, we didn't do them.

Johnson admitted tonight that he is just happy to be back in the England team, let alone resuming the captaincy, given the number of quality second-row forwards at Woodward's disposal.

"First and foremost, I am delighted to be back in the team," he said.

"At the start of this season, if you thought about players who would be guaranteed to be in the England team, then there would only be a few.

"It has been as competitive a start to the season as there has been, which is very healthy. I never start a season thinking that I am going to be in the England team - I start a season just wanting to play well."

England continued their preparations today as the build-up really begins to gather momentum towards the weekend.

"The All Blacks have got a certain mystique about them in British rugby, and rugby in general," Johnson added.

"The rugby public are very excited about this game, and it is good to have New Zealand here."