England manager Martin Johnson has warned his misbehaving side he is ready to drop players in a bid to cure the team of its disciplinary problems ahead of next week's Six Nations clash with France.
Leading referee Wayne Barnes has been called in by Johnson in a bid to stem the flow of 10 yellow cards awarded against England players in four matches.
The self-imposed handicap of playing 20 minutes of the match a man down, after Phil Vickery and Danny Care were both yellow-carded by South African referee Craig Joubert, played a key part in last Saturday's 14-13 loss away to Ireland, just as losing two men had contributed to the preceding defeat by Wales.
Johnson has had enough with last weekend's 18 penalties at Croke Park leading England's 2003 World Cup-winning captain to lay down the law in a way which he hopes will at last get through to the team.
"Players know if they make mistakes, not just in penalties but on the field, then they won't get to play," said Johnson.
"That threat is always hanging over you when you are in an England team, or even a club team.
"If they make bad decisions on the field in a rugby sense, never mind a penalty sense, then they won't play.
"We pick players on their performance and part of their performance is giving penalties away. It is an error, it is a mistake.
"If you give away needless penalties that is part of your performance. We will speak to guys about what they have done."
Replacement scrum-half Care's exit for a push on Ireland prop Marcus Horan heading into the final 10 minutes was especially needless and it allowed Ronan O'Gara to kick the hosts two scores in front.
"I have spoken briefly to Danny and I will speak to him in greater depth," Johnson added.
"Guys coming off the bench are there for an impact, particularly at scrum-half.
"We need him on the field. He has had a rush of blood or the red mist in what was a fairly fractious game - he can't get drawn into that.
"Wayne Barnes is coming up and we will go through all the penalties we have given away in the last couple of games.
"Players have to learn to cope with pressure and if you are giving away silly penalties then you don't have a leg to stand on."
Johnson was also unhappy with veteran prop Vickery, who six years ago was a member of the team the Leicester great captained to World Cup glory.
"Did Phil Vickery listen to the referee? Probably not. Did he deserve a yellow card? He probably did."
England have won just two of Johnson's seven games in charge - against the Pacific Islanders and Six Nations strugglers Italy.
He has now lost as many Tests - five - in four months as he did in five years as England captain and the side have dropped to eighth in the world rankings, their lowest position since the system was introduced.
Johnson had no senior coaching experience before taking the England job but he insisted he was still the man for the job.
"It hasn't shaken my belief in what we are doing. If anything, it has proven that if we execute the game plan it has put us in a position to win matches," he said.
"I thought against Ireland and against Wales at times we produced quite a lot of quick ball. We produced the best break of the game, we created space and attacked the space at times pretty well.
"Our defence through the championship has been strong. We have lost the last two Tests by a combined total of eight points.
"It makes it more frustrating. If you are getting ripped apart you expect the penalty count to be higher but we haven't been.
"We don't want to lose Test matches and we are not giving ourselves a chance because of it.
"If guys don't get it or didn't get it they have got to now and we will do everything to make sure they are aware of it."
Copyright 2009  AFP Global Edition
