England's rugby team must address their disciplinary issues if they are to compete at the highest level, according to Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney. The warning comes after a Six Nations campaign that saw England receive eight yellow cards and one red, forcing them to play 118 minutes with a depleted side.
Sweeney revealed that internal analysis shows England are the second-best team in the world with 15 players on the field, but drop to eighth or ninth when reduced to 14. "It has been a big internal discussion," he said. "Steve [Borthwick] is very conscious of that and he's working really hard with the players to improve that aspect. You need all your players on the pitch for as long as possible. That's something we need to address."
The problem was evident in July's 45-21 defeat by South Africa, where England finished with 13 men after yellow cards for Tommy Freeman and Guy Pepper. Two weeks later, four second-half sin-binnings nearly allowed Argentina to complete a comeback.
England's next challenge is a Test against Australia on Sunday at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, marking the start of their November campaign. While England comfortably won last autumn's meeting, Australia's shock 42-37 victory in 2024 serves as a reminder of their threat. Following the Australia match, England face Japan on 14 November and New Zealand on 21 November before participating in the inaugural Nations Championship finals weekend at Twickenham.
The new biennial tournament, a joint venture between Six Nations and Sanzaar, aims to provide a clearer narrative to the Test calendar outside of Rugby World Cup and British and Irish Lions years. The top teams from the northern and southern hemisphere standings will compete for the title, with all matches counting towards a Ryder Cup-style Hemisphere Shield.
However, ticket sales for Friday's fixtures have been "challenging," Sweeney admitted, as the tournament tries to fill an 82,000-seater venue. The upper tier of Allianz Stadium has yet to be opened, and plenty of seats remain in the lower section. "It's uncharted waters," Sweeney told BBC Sport. "Saturday and Sunday ticket sales are going well - Friday's a challenge at the moment. A lot of fans still don't fully understand what it is and we've done a fair bit of education, but maybe not enough. Friday does remain a challenge, but we're confident that we'll see an uptick in ticket sales."
The organisers will be eager to avoid the embarrassment of empty seats for the start of their new showpiece. They have already had to adjust plans for the second edition of the Nations Championship. A provisional schedule had Qatar hosting a lucrative finals weekend in 2028, before the event was moved to the USA in 2030 to build interest ahead of the 2031 Rugby World Cup. However, instability in the Middle East has brought alternative arrangements to the fore, with Spain, which has bid for the 2035 Rugby World Cup, a possible host for 2028.
"There's a conversation between wanting the most commercial return or wanting to develop the tournament and have greater accessibility for the fans," Sweeney said. "It could be that a return to London is the best thing in the interest of the competition. It could be that you go to France and host it there. It could be you go to Spain or it could be Middle Eastern interest is still there and they'd want to host it somewhere else."
Six Nations and Sanzaar recently decided at a meeting in Sydney to establish a dedicated team to focus full-time on running the Nations Championship and accelerate its development. With England's disciplinary record under scrutiny, the team will be hoping to keep all 15 players on the pitch as they aim for success in the new tournament.
