England manager Martin Johnson called for his side to show greater trust and composure after their 28-14 loss to Australia at Twickenham.

Johnson's men were fourth in the world rankings before this encounter with the Wallabies but they swapped places with Argentina's following the Pumas' 22-14 win away to Italy.

If England are in the top four come the December 1 draw in London for the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand, they will avoid world champions South Africa, the All Blacks and the Wallabies in the pool phase of that tournament.

But England now need to beat either the Springboks or Tri Nations title-holders New Zealand, this month's remaining visitors to Twickenham, to be in with a chance of regaining that top four place.

In his first major match in charge Johnson, whose England reign began with a 39-13 victory over the Pacific Islanders, saw his men undone by a series of careless errors.

"We didn't make them work hard enough to score 28 points," said Johnson, who captained England to victory over Australia in the 2003 World Cup final.

"We gave them eight kickable penalties and they got seven. We went a little bit off script.

"Guys in the heat of the battle went with instinct and what they do week in, week out instead of sticking to what were trying to achieve and that was the frustrating thing.

"If you're doing one thing and 14 guys are doing something else that's when you get turnovers and mistakes. We made far too many of those to keep the pressure on.

"We've got to trust ourselves and back ourselves."

AFP