Poor discipline cost England
ENGLAND’S ru n of five losses in a row has certainly shifted the pressure onto the shoulders of the players and coaches, but it has also shone the spotlight onto their poor discipline which has at times compounded the English misery.
Their speedy winger, Jonny May, who came on in Johannesburg to score a brilliant individual try, admitted that the team sat down to talk about sorting their poor discipline.
They are looking to cut down on the penalties, which he describes as chaos theory, as well as yellow cards.
“It’s the chaos theory - one small action can have a huge impact later on in the game. We should have realised by now the impact one penalty has on the momentum of a game, let alone back-to-back penalties,” he said. “In the Six Nations it killed us and it was as bad as ever at the weekend.
“We have spoken as a group because we’re desperate to be the best. One penalty can really get a team going. It’s such a frustrating one because we don’t want to be giving away penalties. We know better than that. But at the moment hands up, it’s on us, because it’s not good enough. You might think it’s just a silly penalty but it can change the game.”
England were pinned 17 times at Ellis Park, and it was partly this ill-discipline that helped the Springboks mount an impressive comeback.
Loosehead prop Mako Vunipola was also shown a yellow card after the hour mark of the game, for a late hit on Faf de Klerk.
With Vunipola off the field, there was space out wide for Aphiwe Dyantyi to score his debut try, and essentially make the difference in the score with the Springboks only winning by three points in the end.
England admit that they are truly starting to understand the ill-effects of their bad discipline. May mentions how their compounding penalties in the Six Nations against Ireland really made them pay.
“We looked back at the Ireland game in the Six Nations.
“Owen [Farrell] on a kick chase took Johnny Sexton out. Penalty. Boom, line-out penalty. Boom, highball, try.”
Again, against the Boks, the cause-and-effect of their ill-discipline led to instances that England will surely look back on as game changers - including Dyantyi’s try against 14 men.
Of course, Handre Pollard’s boot, kicking penalties, was essentially the difference with the South African flyhalf kicking one more than his English counterpart.
A more disciplined England side could indeed cause some major problems for the Boks in Bloemfontein as the visitors showed in the opening 20 minutes that if they do not deprive themselves of the ball, they are capable of incredible things.
“We almost shocked ourselves with how good we were in that first 20 minutes,” May said. “Eddie said that is the best he has seen us play and he has been around a lot. We felt we never should have lost that game.”