Former scrum-half Matt Dawson described England’s discipline as “verging on comical” after four players were shown yellow cards in the second half of their 31-24 win over Argentina.

England were twice reduced to 13 players in Santiago del Estero, including in the final three minutes as Argentina – who themselves had three players yellow-carded – attempted to overturn a 14-point deficit to salvage a draw.

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The hosts were denied a shot at levelling the match when Bautista Delguy’s 83rd-minute try was controversially chalked off, after the television match official ruled Henry Slade’s last-gasp tackle had forced the Argentina wing into touch.

England’s gutsy victory moves them up to third in the Northern Hemisphere standings in the 2026 Nations Championship, backing up last Saturday’s 73-8 win over Fiji which ended a run of five defeats.

World Cup winner Dawson defended under-fire England head coach Steve Borthwick – saying his side have shown “definite progress” this month – but believes there is a big problem with their discipline.

England have received 14 yellows and one red card in eight matches in 2026 and only once in that run (against Fiji) have they avoided having a player sin-binned.

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Poor discipline was a major factor in the four-match losing run that resulted in a fifth-placed finish in the Six Nations and Borthwick’s position as head coach coming under scrutiny.

“It’s been a hellishly tough two weeks for England. It started with 20 minutes of hell down in South Africa, to all of a sudden finding themselves dominating Argentina in the opening 40 minutes, so there has been real progress,” Dawson told BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra.

“I know the wagons are circulating around Borthwick in certain parts of the media, but I think this performance showed they are on a pathway. Whether there’s enough progress to win a World Cup is another matter to be fully debated – I don’t think we are there yet – but there’s definite progress from the Six Nations.

“The one question we will continue to ask is what on earth are we going to do with England’s discipline? It’s verging on comical. It’s ridiculous how many cards this team have had so far in 2026.”

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Borthwick hit back at questions about his team’s discipline, saying: “I don’t think now is the time to be digging into that.

“This team has done really, really well. It was a tough Test match, a fantastic Test match, we scored some wonderful tries and as ever you guys concentrate on the negativity.

“You’re like the negativity committee so it’s lovely coming and talking to you again.”

England’s lack of discipline

England had four players sin-binned in 26 second-half minutes against Argentina:

• Jack van Poortvliet – deliberate knock-on (51 minutes)

• Alex Coles – deliberate knock-on, with Argentina awarded a penalty try (55 minutes)

• Henry Pollock – offside following multiple infringements in quick succession from England (74 minutes)

• Emmanuel Iyogun – offside, described as “cynical” by referee Angus Gardner (77 minutes).

Although England did not receive a yellow card against Fiji, Tommy Freeman and Guy Pepper were sent to the sin-bin against South Africa in their Nations Championship opener.

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In the 2026 Six Nations, England received seven yellow cards while Henry Arundell was sent off against Scotland after receiving two yellow cards in the first half.

Teams will exploit England’s ‘stupid errors’

In addition to their four yellow cards, England gave away 14 penalties to Argentina’s six, taking their tally for the Nations Championship to 34 conceded in three matches.

Former England wing Chris Ashton believes this pattern of ill-discipline is a weakness opposition teams will look to exploit.

“If you are playing against England, you know they are going to give penalties away and make some stupid errors that result in them losing games,” Ashton told BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra.

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It’s a problem that’s not lost on the players, with man of the match Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who scored England’s fifth try and lit up the match with his jinking runs, identifying it as something for the team to work on.

“Discipline is a huge thing,” he said. “I don’t know how many cards there were but too many. We can’t be having games where we finish with 13 [players].”

Borthwick was eager to focus on his team’s “incredible spirit” as they hung on to win.

“It’s almost unfair to pull out one example but Henry Slade’s tackle at the end was incredible,” he said.

“It shows the fight that’s in this group of players, as well as their togetherness and connection.

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“Right now these players deserve a fantastic holiday, a good night out tonight and a good rest.

“They’ve worked hard and it’s been a season that’s been going a while.

“We all know about the number of minutes the English players play and these guys have stuck to it right to the very end.”

Meanwhile, Argentina head coach Felipe Contepomi accused England of showing a “lack of respect” during his post-match news conference.

Contepomi took exception to the music and cheering that could be heard coming from England’s changing room next door.

Having asked the England representative present in the room to stop the noise, Contepomi lost patience when it did not, and walked out of the room.

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