After 28 penalties and three yellow cards – of which at least one should have been a red card – the penny has finally dropped for Wallaby coach Robbie Deans: his team lacks discipline.

Now, following another ill-disciplined performance in which his team lost 17-29 to the Springboks in Cape Town at the weekend, Deans has threatened to drop players who don’t behave.

At the weekend the Wallabies conceded 14 penalties and the Boks eight. In their first Tri-Nations Test the Aussies also conceded 14 penalties, to the 10 of the All Blacks.

What is most disconcerting is that some of the most senior players in the team appear to have become serial offenders.

Flyhalf Matt Giteau, who was yellow-carded for his disgraceful air tackle of Bok scrumhalf Fourie du Preez, was penalised three times at Newlands – for an offence at a ruck, for that air tackle and for dissent.

Star flank George Smith has been penalised four times in the two Tests – twice in each game – twice for a ruck offence, for obstruction and a deliberate knock-on.

Another often penalised player is hooker Stephen Moore, also four times – twice at rucks, once for off-side and once for obstruction.

These are not borderline offences, they are deliberate actions of the negative tactics kind.

While the Kiwis landed five of their seven penalty kicks at goal, the Boks made the Aussies pay more dearly – landing seven out of eight of their shots at goal.

Deans has finally come out and admitted what most neutral observers have been telling him since last month – the lack of discipline had cost the Wallabies.

“If you keep going back to that trough and don’t address that habit, there’s only one other way of addressing it, that’s to remove those that are drinking from that trough,” Deans told journalists upon the team’s arrival back in Sydney.

He also spoke of his team’s line-out woes – where the Boks managed to claim eight of the Wallabies’ throws.

“We essentially froze and that’s what pressure does to you,” Deans said of Australia’s line-out woes.

“We know that they’re a capable line-out and they create doubts in your own mind through their presence and history of performance in that area.

“You’ve got the two best locks [Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha] in the world and also height at the back in [Pierre] Spies, so that just adds a little bit of pressure.

“But the key is to master ourselves before we master our circumstance.

“A lot of it is still in our own thinking, until we master that, we won’t give ourselves the best opportunity of mastering our opponent.”