We were rubbish, says Noon

JAMIE NOON admits England have been dealt a “smack in the face” by their French farce.

The 31-6 capitulation has left England reeling ahead of Saturday’s tournament finale with Ireland.

Newcastle centre Noon and his team-mates are soothing gaping wounds back at England’s Surrey training base while head coach Andy Robinson ponders his selection options ahead of the Irish clash.

Robinson’s team announcement is scheduled for today, as he embarks on the most crucial week of his reign as England boss.

England are already realistically out of the Six Nations title race, while they have not scored a try for two games and are also striving to avoid a third successive championship defeat after losing their opening three Tests in last season’s tournament.

“We really needed to win that game, but we were rubbish and France were good. We have taken a smack in the face,” said Noon.

“If you get it wrong and make too many mistakes, you are never going to win the game. France thrived off it - we knew they were going to be dangerous, and they were.

“We made a lot of errors, and you can’t go into a game at any level and make as many mistakes as we did and expect to compete, let alone win.

“It is really important we go out there next Saturday, put these games (Scotland and France) behind us if we can, and just play,” Noon added.

“We have got to make sure we get the error-count down, keep some ball, get some phases going and see what happens on the back of that.”

Matt Dawson, meanwhile, has refused to make any attachment to a stomach bug that affected a handful of England players as an excuse.

Dawson’s participation was in doubt until barely an hour before kick-off, and Worcester’s Andy Gomarsall flew out as cover before the Wasps number nine was able to start the match as planned.

“We will not use it as an excuse. We were not up to it, our skill level wasn’t where it should have been,” Dawson said.

“I wouldn’t have played if I wasn’t feeling anywhere near 100%. I was not feeling 100% in the middle of the night, but come 1 or 2pm, I felt pretty good.

“There is more to be worried about than a couple of players feeling dodgy.”

Meanwhile Olivier Magne and Raphael Ibanez gave a critical insight into England’s Parisian demise and concluded that, just 18 months before defending the World Cup, they are a side without identity and direction.

Magne questioned England’s tactical approach on an afternoon ideal for running rugby.

“England are still trying to find their identity. They kicked too much and gave us too much ball to play and with that our backs are able to make a difference one on one. That is exactly what happened,” said Magne.

“If the players are told to kick the ball, they have to do that because the coach decides how to play but it suited our way to play.

“We played well and England didn’t play at their best level.”

The message to Andy Robinson from France is: there’s still time to fix this mess, but you had better act quickly.

“This is a big defeat for England, but it’s not too late,” offered Magne.

“This was not the World Cup final, that is 18 months away and the English players will be ready for the World Cup.”

Wales winger Mark Jones is a serious injury doubt ahead of Saturday’s clash with France at the Millennium Stadium.

Jones is struggling with a knee problem sustained in the first half of Wales’ 18-18 draw with Italy at the weekend and is under close investigation by team physio Mark Davies.