England are less in need of a strong manager than a priest. In this land of saints and sinners, Martin Johnson's recidivists ran down the road of damnation with their ninth and 10th yellow cards in four Tests.

Insane. Indefensible. Thirteen trips to the doghouse in nine matches is another shaming statistic and, frankly, Johnson looked shattered by his inability to impose order on his troops. The scariest man in English rugby is being ignored by his players. Either that or he is not articulating his message. No more Mr Nice Guy is the only solution now to England's fondness for the forced 10-minute holiday.

The uber-experienced Phil Vickery and the less worldly Danny Care were the latest offenders, in Ireland's 14-13 victory, which keeps the Irish on course for a Six Nations grand slam. England's deficiencies are many and there is a risk that they will hide behind transgressions and penalty concessions as the only reasons why they have lost two of their three games in this championship.

But to compete with 14 men for 20 minutes of an 80-minute contest is suicidal. Vickery's offence was playing the ball on the floor. It was old-school skulduggery that took no account of the new rules at the breakdown. Care's crime was just nonsensical. With the score 11-6 in Ireland's favour, the replacement scrum-half shoulder‑barged Marcus Horan from behind and was seen by a touch judge. Another gift to the opposition.

"They've got to understand they've just cost themselves a Test match," Johnson said. And it was impossible to remember him seeming so forlorn. His intimidatory aura has vanished. He is like a secondary-school teacher who scans a class of anarchic kids and despairs of his capacity to restore order.

Johnson, of all people, should never have sunk to such depths of powerlessness. England have collected as many yellow cards in 13 outings as they scored points at Croke Park and a draconian response is unavoidable. The ejected players should be made to apologise to the squad and the coaching staff and then be dropped to set an example. It takes a brave manager to discard a prop of Vickery's experience, but plainly the finger-wagging is not working.

Johnson has already reached the point where he can say: "It's them or me." Smashed by the three southern‑hemisphere giants in the autumn, the great World Cup-winning captain has only a victory over Italy to show from three Six Nations missions.

Here in Dublin, England were resilient throughout and resurgent at the end, when Delon Armitage ran over to score. But how can the team's followers take seriously the claim that Johnson is building a new dynasty when his players are incapable of grasping the rudiments of discipline?

"It's harder to play with 14 men, but then again they scored their try at the end when they had 14," Brian O'Driscoll, Ireland's captain, said, which was nicely diplomatic but ignored the wider debilitating effect on England of trying to beat Ireland in Dublin with a player in the doghouse for 20 minutes.

Johnson's shoulders were slumped, his voice faltered. He said he was angry "for" the players sent to the sin bin rather than "with" them. Last week the England attack coach, Brian Smith, was rebuked for complaining about the refereeing in the Wales match. This, too, suggests a bad case of denial.

"Penalties – it wasn't great by half‑time and it got worse," Johnson said. "I said to the players after the game: face facts. It was a big effort, but if you give away 18 penalties, ultimately, you're going to lose. I thought the one [yellow card] that really changed the game was Danny's. It was 11-6 at that point and we had no scrum-half for 10 minutes.

"He hit the back of a ruck, from where I saw it. When you're down that much on the penalty count, the referee and touch judges are looking at you. And why wouldn't they be?

"We keep hammering away about not giving penalties and trusting our defence, and we've done it again. I'm just angry for them, not for me." Time, then, for stronger sanctions? "It's not the same player every time, it's a team‑wide thing. It's hot at the moment to make those calls. You've got to let it die down a bit before you make those calls."

With the fall of sterling and the £5 pint of Guinness came fewer English pilgrims to Dublin and slower supping by those who did splash out on the trip. Those who stayed away must feel smug.

There is a palpable sense of hunkering down among England's followers, of waiting for the dawn. So at least the fans are now in tune with the austerity of a side who have beaten only the Pacific Islanders and Italy in their past nine Tests.

Johnson must be questioning his crowd-control skills. His consensus‑building style of management has failed and he must be tempted now to flash the other side of his character. Or maybe call a priest to straighten out a side who are much more sinning than sinned against.