Leicester Tigers scrum-half Ellis scored two tries on his first international start for two years as England began their Six Nations campaign with a 36-11 win over Italy at Twickenham.
Ellis started the game after receiving a late call-up from the England Saxons squad following injury to Danny Care and scored a try in each half.
England team manager Johnson said: “Harry took his opportunities well and gave us some comfort on the score board - he's missed a fair bit of rugby for various reasons over the past couple of years, so it's great to have him back in the fold.”
The win put England top of the Six Nations table after the first round of matches but Ellis insisted they would have to improve ahead of this weekend’s game against Wales at the Millennium Stadium.
Ellis said: “It was a great result but I don't think we performed particularly well but as far as games go we've got to be pretty pleased.
“The first 20 minutes gave us some confidence but it was a bit of a scruffy game, so we'll go back to the drawing board during the week.
“The score line maybe flattered us a bit and credit to Italy for causing us problems.
“It's one game down now with four to go and it'll be a tougher test for us next week. As far as marks out of 10 goes that was a six or a seven. We've got things to work on and our standards are high, so we'll have to get to work next week and improve.”
