What does Martin Johnson, a man with no management experience, bring to the party?

The reputation of a world-class player, strength of character, leadership and a far more subtle mind than his second-row play sometimes suggested. It is Johnson's rugby intellect that will be England's most valuable asset in the days to come - he has a touch, a feel for the game beyond the common run and his players will know that, whatever he does, they will come first.

“We have asked of these players something we should not have had to ask,” he said after England had hauled themselves out of the slough of despond at last year's World Cup to reach the final. “You have to put it [the sport] in the hands of the players. They're the guys on the field who are making the decisions. You must trust them, you mustn't spoon-feed them.”

What will an England selected by Johnson look like?

It will have a healthy regard for the basic skills. Johnson believes that if the basics are right, everything else will follow. Too often this season England have not been competitive in areas that once they would have taken for granted - the lineout, the breakdown, the decision-making at half back.

Johnson returned from the World Cup believing that some players had made considerable strides during the tournament - Paul Sackey, Toby Flood, Mathew Tait, Dan Hipkiss - and could be added to some of the core players who were unavailable, such as Harry Ellis, David Strettle and Mike Tindall. That only Sackey kicked on during this year's RBS Six Nations Championship will have surprised and disappointed him.

“Maybe they understand more of what it [top-flight rugby] is all about,” he said. “You get away from all the rubbish and get down to what wins rugby matches. There's a core of players there and we need to get that talent into a squad of 20-plus players, all capable of playing for England in these big games.”

So, who will he pick?

He has to find a new captain because Phil Vickery's knee injury will surely prevent him touring New Zealand. Tindall is one possibility, but Johnson has the chance to do what Geoff Cooke did when he came in as head coach in 1988 and found a left-field captain in Will Carling - the only man to have led England in more matches than Johnson.

The London Wasps duo of Tom Rees and James Haskell fall into that category, although Rees's injury record is not encouraging and Haskell probably needs more time to find his international feet. Jonny Wilkinson has done the job before, but he is no longer certain of a place in the starting XV after the emergence at fly half of Danny Cipriani, who also has his supporters as a potential leader.

But Johnson has the chance to ponder. The New Zealand trip will be an interregnum; the real giveaway will be his first elite squad of 32, to be named probably in August. Their task will be to win every match in the autumn to improve England's ranking for the 2011 World Cup, for which the cut-off point is December.

Any obvious losers because of Johnson's appointment?

Apart from Brian Ashton? Johnson is not a sentimental man. He will pick players because they can do what he expects them to do, not because they once showed they were the best in the world in Sydney in 2003. It is hard to believe that he would have picked Lesley Vainikolo on the wing, that he would have persevered with Mark Regan once the World Cup was over and would he have considered Olly Barkley at inside centre rather than Flood?

Ashton chose not to select Barkley because of the legal proceedings that hang over the Bath player. Flood showed at the World Cup that he can be a key midfield man.

What now for Brian Ashton?

The RFU has not sacked him, it has offered him alternative employment, which could be a legal technicality in the hope of avoiding an expensive payout. The key element for Ashton is trust, and how could he trust an organisation that has let him down so badly over the past month?

The national academy is placed near his home in Bath, but he has done that once and will not be short of offers to return to the Guinness Premiership. He was five months into his renaissance with Bath in 2006 before accepting the RFU's call and could serve the club again. Or he could take a consultancy role, such as the one undertaken by Phil Larder when the RFU ended his term as defence coach.

And what about Rob Andrew?

There is a fallacy that says if Andrew is not in charge of the national team, what else does he do? First he becomes a stopgap manager for New Zealand, then there is a sprawling department awaiting his attention. Elite rugby has England as its highest level, but the support structure is huge, in the development of young players, coaches, referees, medical support, the academies, relationships with the clubs. He also, of course, has to deal with Johnson.