[3][4] Johnson has also had a very successful representative career, winning the Bill Beaumont Cup five times with Lancashire, and captaining the England Counties XV.
Growing up in Lancashire where he played junior rugby at Rochdale, upon finishing school Johnson moved across the Pennines to study at the University of Huddersfield.
Johnson was outstanding in the playoff game at Lockwood Park, kicking 18 points in the 22–7 victory against Luctonians, and helping Huddersfield achieve a first ever promotion to the National Leagues.
[20] Despite finishing runners up, Johnson had a fantastic tournament scoring 62 points, with 24 of those coming in the 54–33 victory away to former county side Yorkshire in front of 2,023 supporters at Scarborough – a record crowd for the ground.
[21][22][23] In the summer of 2012, after six seasons with Huddersfield and over 1,800 points scored, Johnson decided to move back to Lancashire to sign for Fylde, playing one division higher in National League 1.
As well as playing league games, Johnson also took part in the Fylde side that reached the semi-finals of the Lancashire Cup, losing 24–25 to rivals Preston Grasshoppers at home.
[24][25] Johnson was also called up to the Lancashire for the 2013 Bill Beaumont Cup where he had an excellent tournament, scoring 36 points (the second highest in the competition), 15 of which came the final in a 35–26 victory against Cornwall.
[35] The 2014–15 season saw Fylde drop one place down to finish 5th in the league, with Johnson ending up as the second highest scorer in the division with 252 points (behind Richmond's Rob Kirby).
[39] In the summer of 2016, after four seasons with Fylde, over 900 points scored for the club, and multiple county championship triumphs with Lancashire, Johnson decided to sign for Sale FC, playing one division below in National League 2 North.
Reasons given for the move were that Johnson wanted to cut down on travel (Sale FC were closer to where he worked) and that his new club had more potential for winning silverware in the future.