Former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio must 'get smarter', and quickly, if they are to end their current losing streak.
Former captain concerned by current fitness levels of national team
England must 'get smarter', and quickly, if they hope to end their losing streak and beat France in their Six Nations clash next weekend according to Lawrence Dallaglio.
The former skipper pointed to the ill-discipline that has seen 10 players sin-binned in their four Tests, and said that England's men need to clean up their act.
England must beat France at Twickenham next Sunday to stand any chance of finishing above the fold in the Six Nations table.
A furious Martin Johnson called top referee Wayne Barnes into the England camp after they conceded a staggering 18 penalties in last Saturday's defeat to Ireland.
Discipline
The England team manager forced his players to watch a video nasty of every penalty they have conceded in an effort to drive home the message.
"Discipline is one of the key pillars of success," said Dalllaglio. "This England team need to learn quicker than they are. They have to get smarter. Martin knows that.
"The simple answer is if you want to stop giving penalties away you need to play better.
"Winning becomes a habit and so can losing. England's record doesn't make for pleasant reading we are ranked eighth in the world and have only won two of our last nine matches.
"At the moment they are learning painful lessons and for some players it might cost them a place in the team.
"Hopefully now the messages are getting on board. England have to cut out the dumb penalties for the foul play and practice like hell on the other ones.
"At the moment they can't blame anyone but themselves. If they can cut out the penalties and the mistakes they have a decent chance of winning both their remaining games against France and Scotland.
"There has to be a bit of siege mentality in the England camp, after the recent criticism - which was largely down to their own doing - and I'd like to think they will come out all guns blazing, right on the edge.
"We need consistency and even though France produced a pretty decent performance against Wales I am confident of England's chances next weekend."
But Dallaglio believes that it is not just discipline and attitude that is hampering the development of the current crop of internationals.
After watching the World Cup Sevens Dallaglio feels the players are desperately short on fitness - England's Sevens squad recently smashed fitness levels set by the current Test team.
Fitness benchmarks
"I think the England players should be beating the fitness benchmarks we set in 2003 but I can't see it," he added.
"Games are won and lost in the last 20 minutes. The games against Wales and Ireland were there for the winning in the last 20 minutes."
Despite the criticism however Dallaglio is confident England can halt their slide against France on home territory.
He said: "Mentally you can wear France down. France should be respected, and physically they present a big challenge, but at Twickenham they should hold no fear for England.
"Crucially so many of the England side have the experience of beating French club teams. You think this season of Harlequins beating Stade Francais home and away."
