When will this team wise up?

EDDIE Jones is copping some criticism again today — he more than anyone knows that comes with the job — but it’s about time this group of England players started taking responsibility for their own actions.

England need to start getting a bit cranky with each other and calling each other out for the basic mistakes they keep making.

The penalty count is a prime example of this. On Saturday it was 12-4 — or 17-4 including freekicks. They are crazy figures.

It is way too high and has consistently been too high for the last two or three years. Thinking back, England were also conceding that number of penalties when Stuart Lancaster was in charge.

There are occasions when conceding a penalty is the right option, three points instead of seven. And there are also occasions when the opposition player gets the better of you — particularly in the scrum and line-out.

But the majority of penalties are down to sloppy play, slow thought process, panicking under pressure, poor technique, dull play, poor understanding of the laws — especially around the tackle area — and also what constitutes offside.

The majority of penalties are eminently avoidable and when it happens match after match you can be sure it’s down to you, not the referee.

What is really beginning to irritate me — and should annoy any England supporter — is the way some England players shrug off these penalty decisions as if they are just part of the game and of little importance. Wrong.

I don’t like that acceptance of yet another penalty or that insolent look you get which says: ‘I might have been penalised but I was right and you were wrong.’

Players have got to start getting angry with colleagues who give away needless penalties. I would appoint a player to keep an eye on this and dish out harsh words.

With England I used to ask Matt Dawson to keep an eye on the penalty decisions, keep on top of what was happening and dish out a few strong words if somebody gave away a really soft one. Dawson was brilliant at this because we made it his responsibility, but it is also common sense.

It also needs somebody to clock what the trends are and where England need to tighten up. The captain has a fair bit on his plate and is often trying to keep a smooth relationship going with the referee. It needs a trusted lieutenant to dish out some chosen words to transgressors. England players must also start calling colleagues out in other ways. Ben Youngs had a decent game but there was one ridiculous moment when the pack won invaluable turnover ball in defence. Instead of kicking it into the green seats, he kicked long and the Boks ran it and eventually scored.

That’s not good enough and England have got to take each other to task on stuff like that.

Collectively, they must look at that game and ask: how did we, a professional rugby team, manage to lose a match which we led 24-3 after 20 minutes? Those are the negatives. The frustrating thing is there is so much talent in this team and at times on Saturday they had me on the edge of my seat.

England have got to start boxing clever now. The bubble has burst. Teams are looking at England and thinking the way to beat this team is not to play a slow game, but play an all-out fast game. So England have to keep them guessing.

A number of our unforced errors came from players playing out of position and feeling a little out of their comfort zone.

Elliot Daly (below) is a supremely gifted player but for all his excellent contributions on Saturday, there were moments when he looked out of sorts at 15. For example, missing the ball in-goal when the Boks scored a try, kicking the ball long from 80 yards and ignoring Mike Brown on the overlap, then kicking instead of passing.

BROWN confirmed he is a hardcore international player, but at full back, not wing. I would simply switch those two over again for Saturday’s second Test. Brad Shields is a back-rower and unsurprisingly looked uncomfortable playing lock. I believe taking off Nick Isiekwe so early was wrong; England needed to try and slow things down a little and get some control up front when the Boks started surging back. We need to find out about Shields so he needs to start the next Test in his best position, which is six. Tom Curry was spirited and I am convinced he has a big England future but this series is probably a season too early for a 19-year-old. George Ford was excellent in that first 20 minutes but England need to find out about Danny Cipriani. Eddie must use this tour to find the missing parts of the jigsaw. We saw how effective in-form Premiership players like Faf de Klerk and Willie le roux were for the Springboks — perhaps Cipriani could do the same for England. Let’s at least find out.