Why Discipline Has Been England's Biggest Disappointment of RBS 6 Nations

England’s biggest disappointment so far in the 2016 RBS Six Nations has been their discipline. Sound familiar?

Eddie Jones' team were much the better side against Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday, and it was only England’s indiscipline that brought the visitors back into the game.

Speaking after the match, England captain Dylan Hartley told the BBC: “I'm sure there's plenty to work on, discipline being top of the list.” He was right.

England, who dominated throughout, had two men sent to the sin-bin, which begs the question how many they might lose to the yellow cards when they are put under sustained pressure by top-class opposition with their best players fit.

The first, James Haskell’s late and high tackle on Conor Murray (see video above), was a reckless cheap shot that cost England an almost immediate Irish try and swung the game in Ireland’s favour to lead 10-6. In so offending, the Wasps man became the most sin-binned player in the history of the Six Nations, with four yellows.

Haskell clearly didn’t learn from his similar experience in 2013 against the same opposition, when he feared his card would cost England the match.

Danny Care’s yellow for killing the ball as Ireland looked odds-on to score was more understandable (see video below). The English defence was ragged, and sometimes the coach will not be too disappointed. No mention will be made here of the Harlequins man's daft yellow card against Ireland under Martin Johnson.

Elsewhere, Owen Farrell has been a notorious disciplinary offender in recent seasons, and he is becoming far more of a liability than Hartley, despite his captain’s well-publicised misdemeanours.

Farrell was guilty of two costly penalty infringements in the first half when England were deep in Irish territory. First, after a fine Anthony Watson aerial claim from George Ford’s pinpoint kick, Farrell’s sealing off at the ruck cost England possession and the field position gained by the move.

Discipline is not just avoiding late tackles and cheap shots, it's also about recognising the futility of offending and Farrell hasn’t learned that yet.

Later in the first half, a Farrell neck roll on Keith Earls let Ireland off the hook when their under-fire lineout was about to be tested five metres from their try line. Cheap-shot indiscipline at the ruck is being penalised more and more since the arrival of the in-play television match official (TMO) and rarely goes unnoticed either during the game or after it.

It’s senseless, and Farrell and England must kick the habit. On another day, he might have seen yellow.

Farrell, to take the most prominent example, has prior form here. With England threatening an unlikely comeback in the 2015 Rugby World Cup against Australia, all hopes were extinguished by his yellow card for taking out Matt Giteau without the ball with the score at 13-20 (see video above). He must curb his penchant for rugby felony.

Aside from yellow cards and Farrell, another worrying trend is that ex-captain Chris Robshaw is quietly becoming a serial offender at the ruck and maul.

Whether losing the leadership has impacted on Robshaw’s sense of impunity, England can scarcely afford to have both flankers walking a disciplinary tightrope. He too could have been sin-binned for being offside at an Irish driving maul 10 metres from the England line.

All this though comes after an internal statement from head coach Jones about improving discipline, as recorded by the Daily Mail in a feature on winger (and recent cherub) Jack Nowell. In it, the Exeter Chiefs man noted: “Our discipline hasn't been great and we know that as a squad that that needs to get a lot better.”

“We’ve talked a lot about discipline, and breakdown penalties, and we gave some dumb ones away which kept them in the game.” Thus spoke Stuart Lancaster, then England head coach, after the 2015 Rugby World Cup defeat to Wales, per Rugby World.

In the discipline department, despite the arrival of Jones, nothing has changed.