Six Nations Championship/England v Ireland: Jamie Noon admits England have been dealt a "smack in the face" by their French defeat. The 31-6 capitulation to Six Nations Championship favourites France has left England reeling ahead of next Saturday's tournament finale when Triple Crown-chasing Ireland arrive at Twickenham.
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 game. Robinson's team announcement is scheduled for this afternoon, as he embarks on the most crucial week of his reign as England boss.
Changes in the centre, backrow and at scrumhalf could be considered, such was England's capitulation against a French outfit who claimed all their tries - from Florian Fritz, Damien Traille and Christophe Dominici - as a direct result of errors by the visiting side.
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. We've got to have a look at it, try and work on why there were so many mistakes and sort it out for next weekend.
"The guys want to finish on a high and play the sort of rugby we started the tournament with. We've had two error-filled games, and we've lost them both."
England captain Martin Corry has described the Ireland game as "unbelievably huge" following his team's Paris capitulation, a sentiment Noon echoes.
"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. That is the first job - get the errors down, keep some ball, get some phases going and see what happens."
Scrumhalf Matt Dawson has refused to make any attachment to a stomach bug that affected a handful of England players as an excuse for Sunday's defeat. Dawson's participation was in doubt until barely an hour before kick-off, and 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 per cent. I was not feeling 100 per cent in the middle of the night, but come 1 or 2pm, I felt pretty good."
The Ireland team to face England in the final Six Nations Championship match of the season at Twickenham will be named at lunchtime today.
The players resumed contact training this morning and to facilitate their preparations Bryan Young (Ulster), Neil Best (Ulster), Keith Gleeson (Leinster, Jamie Heaslip (Leinster), Kieran Lewis (Leinster), Denis Hickie (Leinster), Tommy Bowe (Ulster), Rob Kearney (Leinster) and Ian Dowling (Munster) were called into the session.
Wasps flanker Johnny O'Connor, who withdrew from the replacements bench last Friday ahead of the Scotland game with a groin strain, is expected to be available for selection.
