Johnson has opted for the charging bull approach by recalling Phil Vickery and teaming him across from Andrew Sheridan in his scrum to confront the Aussies; but come on, this is rugby. It’s what has to be done and doesn’t signify any lack of subtlety about Johnson’s thought processes.

If he was lacking in broader insight, as the popular perception of him as the hulking Quiet Man might suggest, how come the impressively broad and thoughtful start in command last weekend, admittedly against the scratch side of the Pacific Islanders?

This was an awkward opening for Johnson. But he emerged from it with credit for awarding five new caps and summoning from the debutant full-back Delon Armitage a performance the coach described as the best initiation into international rugby he had witnessed. This represented boldness, shrewdness and a knowledge of how to make a player feel 10 feet tall rather than a successful rush of mere “passion”.

The half-time team talk which improved England’s display may, of course, have involved an old-fashioned rollocking. They will never go out of fashion. But as Johnson was eager to give credit to all his coaches afterwards, it seems more likely it involved careful analysis and logical working out of solutions.

After the indisciplined mess of the tour to New Zealand under Rob Andrew’s temporary stewardship last summer, it does no harm that England have the toughest of tough guys in place now. The published and much-publicised revelations of Mike Catt and Lawrence Dallaglio suggested too that it was the big spirits of some of the players rather than the genial thoughtfulness of Brian Ashton which drove England to the World Cup final just over a year ago.

To his credit, Ashton always acknowledged their passion. He said, rightly, it was a given in international rugby. But he always made it clear his players offered so much more.

Capello’s predecessor, Steve McClaren, left only a void. The Italian has turned things around in the early stages of the World Cup campaign by using disciplinarian methods and doing his nut on the touchline when things go wrong,  it is said. Yet this is also too simplistic.

What Capello has actually done is to understand that English footballers, in particular, respond to firmly delineated guidelines and clear instructions.

This is a theory he calculated long ago and which is based on logic, the opposite of blind “passion”. But he knows it can be inspirational, as the re-emergence of Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard under his guidance   proves; as the lift-off of Theo Walcott illustrates.

And now we have Harry Redknapp transforming Spurs by “stroking some egos,” according to Fraizer Campbell after Wednesday’s 4-2 defeat of Liverpool.

The blow-hards of the stands and the saloon bar find it all too easy to demand zero tolerance of the sporting stars
they view as pampered and over-paid.

A thumping heart and a clenched fist are the only tools too many wish to acknowledge. The professionals understand a whole lot more.