‘Former serial offender’ calls out England players for ‘costing the team’ in a way that left him ‘lost for words’
England players huddle together after their win in Argentina and, inset, Kyle Sinckler
Ex-England front-rower Kyle Sinckler has hit out over the gratuitous level of indiscipline which nearly cost Steve Borthwick’s side victory on Saturday night in Argentina.
Comfortably ahead 19-3 at the interval in their round three Nations Championship match in Santiago del Estero, four second-half yellow cards left England clinging on for a 31-24 victory.
The triumph was only confirmed following an added-time controversy in which Argentina, up against 13 English players at the time, were denied a Bautista Delguy try in the corner after a lengthy TMO review.
A Henry Slade tackle prevented the Los Pumas attacker from grounding infield for the score, the ball instead brushing the touchline, but the hosts had a case for a penalty try as it appeared that Noah Caluori had high-tackled Delguy before he then came into contact with Slade.
“Everyone keeps making the same mistake…”
England conceded 14 penalties to Argentina’s six in a match where their four yellow cards for Jack van Poortvliet, Alex Coles, Henry Pollock and Emmanuel Iyogun eclipsed the three brandished to Mateo Carreras, Santiago Carreras and Joaquin Oviedo.
English boss Borthwick refused at his post-game media briefing to welcome queries about his team’s indiscipline, insisting: “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.”
However, the French-based Sinckler, who exited the Test match arena behind after Rugby World Cup 2023 with his switch from Bristol to Toulon, claimed there can be no hiding from a dubious run where England have suffered 14 yellow cards and one red in their eight matches so far in 2026.
“The only thing I would say mars this victory is just the discipline,” said Sinckler, during post-game punditry duty for ITV. “Like, we had that game. It was done.
“We just had to stick to the game plan and just control it because Argentina were always going to chase the game and we just kind of gave it to them when the pressure builds, and you haven’t got that experience and cool heads on the field, and everyone keeps making the same mistake.
“The issue is if you keep making the same mistake it’s not a mistake anymore, it becomes a decision. Like, they know what’s right from wrong – and that’s coming from a former serial offender. You have to take responsibility at the end of the day.”
Sinckler delved into his own experiences with indiscipline during the early part of his career and how they were eventually rectified. “Speaking from experience as someone who openly I would say I had a discipline problem in giving away penalties and being yellow carded earlier on in my career, there comes a point where you have to look in the mirror as a player.
“It’s very important for the senior players in the team to pull the offenders, which are normally the younger players aside, and say, ‘Look, you are costing the team’.
“I remember being a young player at Harlequins, and I had the likes of Danny (Care), Ugo Monye, Jordan Turner-Hall, Christ Robshaw, etc, etc and when it wasn’t acceptable I was told, and I knew what was right from wrong.
“It does come down to just personal responsibility and just taking responsibility as a player because four yellow cards in one half of rugby, have you ever seen anything like that? I don’t think I have ever seen anything like that.”
Sinckler added that Argentina had a genuine case for a match-levelling penalty try in the last play on Saturday night. “For me, I don’t think he [Delguy] got the grounding, and I have seen nine times out of 10 that could be a high tackle from Noah Caluori. Yes, he starts on the shoulder but then he ends up on the neck, so it’s a tough one.”
Sharing the TV studio punditry duties with Sinckler, Care, his former Harlequins and England teammate, added: “In the 17th showing of the angle they finally realised that the ball had touched the in-goal, so dead, which is the correct decision.
“But you can see why the Argentinian players are so disappointed because they feel like it should have been a penalty try and they wouldn’t have needed the kick; it would have been a draw.
“Crazy (second) half. It was 68 minutes long, and I have never heard a referee (Angus Gardner) speak as much as I did then… It was a crazy game. England got the win in the end. That could have gone either way; that try at the end was potentially a penalty try, so the Argentinians can feel hard done by.
“But how we have got ourselves in that position from an England perspective, so dominant, so good in the first half, did everything right, and it was exactly the same as the football (World Cup semi-final), we shut up shop, stopped playing and just invited pressure. Argentina got back into the game, but they will look back at that as one missed.”
Dwelling on the yellow cards, Care added: “I’ve had a few in my career myself as well, but that is 14 yellow cards and one red in the last eight matches for England. David Flatman hit the nail on the head; it’s people making rash decisions.
“It’s pressure, and it’s forcing people into things where they feel like they don’t have an out and they give away a penalty. Pressure would just build up and build up. England won’t win those big games if they keep doing that.
“That’s something that Steve has got to sort out. He has got a few months to work out how to do it but come November, when the team comes back together and tries to finish off this Nations Championship and get into the top-level games, they have got to keep men on the field.”
The July wins over Fiji and Argentina brought to an end a concerning five-match losing streak under Borthwick, and Care insisted that how England played in the opening half away to Los Pumas is the way they must continue to play in the November matches in London versus Australia, Japan and New Zealand.
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“The first half for England is the blueprint,” reckoned the retired scrum-half. “That was a brilliant performance, one of the best 40 minutes we have seen from Steve Borthwick’s team.
“Everything about it was brilliant. The set-piece was brilliant, the pressure they were forcing on people, getting the ball to the danger players. That’s the blueprint going forward; they just need to do that for 80 minutes rather than for 40.”
Sinckler concluded that the win could give England positive momentum to build on after a sticky time so far in 2026. “For me, it’s quite similar to the situation I had in 2018 playing for England where we went through a tough run,” he said.
“We then had a tour in South Africa where we lost two close Test matches and then the last Test in Cape Town we won. It wasn’t a really convincing win, but it just gave us that momentum which we could then build into the November Tests.”