Martin Johnson today received a vote of confidence from his bosses despite failing to end England's disciplinary nightmare.

Martyn Thomas, the Rugby Football Union chairman, insists team manager Johnson is the right man to solve the disciplinary problems which have seen England get 10 yellow cards in the last four Tests.

"Like Martin , I am pretty angry about this, but he is the man to sort it out," said Thomas. "We have problems with discipline, but it's not wilful and a lack of experience among the players is a factor in this."

Johnson has been urged to stamp his authority on the squad by axing one of the yellowcarded players.

Harlequins scrum-half Danny Care is the obvious candidate after his unnecessary charge into the back of Ireland prop Marcus Horan at a ruck brought him 10 minutes in the sin bin.

Dick Best, the former Grand Slam winning England and Lions coach, said: "Martin has to do something to somebody to get the message across that you cannot give away these kind of penalties and lose players to the bin."

Flanker James Haskell cannot explain why his team are falling foul of the officials so much.

The London Wasps forward said: "When each of us goes back to our clubs we don't give away penalties like this and it's a fact that if you had a discipline problem then you would not get picked at international level."

England centre Riki Flutey is waiting to discover if he will be cited for a heavy tackle on Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll. Wing Paul Sackey (ankle) and fly-half Toby Flood (knee) are having their injuries assessed ahead of the next game against France on 15 March.