Poor discipline is costing us – May

Jonny May has revealed that England have been soul-searching over the recurring indiscipline that has sent results into freefall.

South Africa won the opening instalment of their three-Test series with a 42-39 victory at Ellis Park that exposed all-too familiar flaws in the performance of Eddie Jones’s men that first surfaced during a troubled NatWest Six Nations.

A penalty count of 17 played into the Springboks’ hands and while error-prone work at the breakdown also led to their collapse, it is the attention of referees that is contributing most to their five-match losing run.

May, the Leicester wing who scored a brilliant solo try in Johannesburg, has revealed that Monday’s team meeting was dominated by one subject – how to avoid being whistled out of contention.

“It’s the chaos theory – one small action can have a huge impact later on in the game,” May said. “You might just think it’s a silly penalty, but it can change the game, especially when you give away back-toback penalties. That’s a killer.

“We have spoken about discipline before, it isn’t like it’s been brushed over. In the Six Nations it killed us.

“And it was as bad as ever at the weekend.”