Johnno set to axe the yellow card offenders

Yellow peril: Danny Care was sin-binned for a shoulder charge on Marcus Horan
Chris Jones13 April 2012

Martin Johnson has warned his England players he is ready to axe them from the squad to face France after losing patience over their disciplinary problems.

Scrum-half Danny Care has today apologised for a ridiculous barge on Ireland prop Marcus Horan which earned him a yellow card during last week's loss in Dublin, where Phil Vickery was also sent to the sin bin.

England conceded 18 penalties compared to Ireland's eight in that clash and they have now picked up 10 yellow cards in their last four matches, prompting Johnson to call in top referee Wayne Barnes to lecture the XV who started against Ireland on their discipline tomorrow.

Johnson, who is preparing for the 15 March clash with France, said: "Players know if they make mistakes on the pitch — not only penalties — they won't get to play. That threat is always there and if they make silly decisions then they won't be picked. I have spoken to Danny and we can't afford for him to have the red mist and get drawn into things.

"We will pick players on their performance and part of that is giving away penalties.

"Making needless mistakes is part of the criteria for selection. We will speak to people about what they have done and Danny has to understand he cannot get embroiled in that kind of thing. Danny did something silly in the heat of the moment.

"When some of the penalties have been reckless and needless the referee will naturally be looking at you. It puts you in the ref's bad books."

The 17 players who have been released back to their clubs for this weekend's games — including Care — will not hear tomorrow's talk by Barnes.

However, Johnson hopes that the visit by the English official will have an effect on the rest of the squad.

"Wayne is coming up to go through all the penalties we have conceded in the last couple of games and eradicate any grey areas there might be," said Johnson. "There are various reasons for penalties, including situations where guys have got it completely wrong and done something silly, and if we can cut those ones out, along with the bad technical decisions, then we have a chance of halving that penalty count.

"It been an issue over the last few weeks and it's a bigger issue now."

Johnson also singled out former captain Vickery for collecting a yellow card when the referee had warned him about handling in the ruck, although the team manager remains convinced he can control his men.

He added: "It hasn't shaken my belief in what we are doing and if we execute our game plan we can put ourselves in a position to win matches.

"Ten yellow cards doesn't embarrass me , it disappoints me because it is costing us opportunities to win games; did Phil Vickery listen to the referee? Probably not. Did he deserve a yellow card? He probably did.

"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."

Care did his best to win favour with Johnson by today apologising for his Dublin yellow card.
He said: "I can't really defend what I did, but also I believe because of the disciplinary situation with England at the moment it was magnified.

"I could only hold my hands up afterwards. I apologised to the boys and said I wouldn't let it happen again. I let my team-mates down, and you never want to feel that way as a player."

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