Ridgeway Primary School, Welland Park School and Robert Smyth School. Early career Johnson briefly played American football for the Leicester Panthers as a tight end or defensive end. In 1989 he was approached by former All Black Colin Meads to try out for the King Country side in New Zealand. Johnson's trial run was successful and he played two seasons for King Country. In 1990 he was even selected for the New Zealand under-21 side which went on a tour of Australia playing a side that included another of the all-time great lock forwards, John Eales. Playing career 1989-92: Club debut and early seasons Johnson made his Leicester debut on 14 February 1989 against the R.A.F. rugby team. His Courage League debut came against champions Bath at Welford Road; Tigers won 15–12 to deny Bath an undefeated season. Johnson did not feature for the first team again until 1990 as he played in New Zealand. His return to the first team was again against Bath; on 15 November 1990, due to an injury to Alex Gissing, Johnson started in the third round of 1990-91 Pilkington Cup and Tigers won, the first cup game that Bath had lost at The Rec since 1982. In 1990, Johnson moved to New Zealand to play for King Country and was selected to play for the Under 21 All Blacks. A recurrence of a shoulder injury limited Johnson to just 5 games for Leicester in the 1990–91 season, though he did make his divisional debut for the Midlands. Johnson returned to action in August 1991 as Leicester toured Canada, but Gissing was still preferred for the early season club matches. Johnson established himself in the side in early 1991 playing 11 consecutive games from October onward and only missing 5 of the next 26 matches. Although he made his Leicester debut in the same season, 1988–89, as fellow lock Matt Poole, the pair did not start a game together until 5 November 1991 against Cambridge University. They went on to play together 129 times, a club record for a second row partnership. 1992-93: Cup success, England and Lions debut Johnson was now firmly established in Leicester's first choice line up. He played every game in the 1992–93 Pilkington Cup as Tigers defeated London Scottish, Nottingham, Exeter and Northampton to set up a final at Twickenham against Harlequins. Johnson scored Leicester's second try, after taking the