In the post-mortem over England's failure to take control of the Six Nations, the spotlight centred on a backline that was almost force-fed possession against Scotland yet failed to cross the line in a resounding 18-12 defeat. More specifically, the consensus is that numbers 12 and 13, Tindall and Noon, are peas from the same iPod and perform identical roles.

At this rate Noon will not have a problem keeping his feet on the ground. The reviews of the England midfield have been more grave than rave. Since England's delusions of grandeur, not to mention a grand slam, ran into a granite wall in Edinburgh, Noon is sick and tired of reading and listening about England's lack of a cutting edge. "More and more I'm trying not to read the newspapers. Every week I get hit by some criticism or another. The thing is I really don't feel I've done too badly.

"I've made a couple of breaks and I created a couple of tries against Wales. Instead of looking at the big picture people pick on little individual things and the conclusion is that the midfield has failed, again. It's quite hard to take.

I'm doing my best. We all are.

Mike and I are developing together and learning how each other plays. We're described as crash-bang merchants but we both prefer to run into space. Mind you, sometimes boshing it up the middle can be effective. We need time together. In any case, who else is there?"

Noon, who was born in Goole 26 years ago, wins his 16th cap today against France in Paris. "This is a good time to play the French because everybody wants to make amends for the poor performance at Murrayfield and the championship is still wide open. We've got fresh ideas and we're going to take France on. Look what Ireland did to them in the second half.

"We're a youngish side and if we beat France it would set us up for the climax against Ireland at Twickenham. That would be brilliant for us. We haven't peaked yet. There's so much more to come."

Another who is finding the newspapers hard to stomach at breakfast is Martin Corry, the captain. His beef is that his rivalry with Lawrence Dallaglio, the former captain, has become a cause celebre. The moment Dallaglio replaced Corry during the Calcutta Cup match the debate was bound to intensify. The impression is that Robinson likes Corry a lot more as a captain than he does as a number eight although last week he was reiterating that the back row that starts against France is the best available.

"Moody is developing into an outstanding open-side, " Robinson said, adding, almost as an afterthought, "Martin's been performing well as well.

I'm not trying to undermine his leadership. At 12-9 down against Scotland I had a decision to make and I wanted Dallaglio to make an impact.

There's nothing pre-conceived."

"This will be a completely different game to the one against Scotland, " Robinson said. "For one thing we'll have to do a bit more defending.

We'll have to be in their faces and stop them playing. As soon as I hear the crowd whistling at the French I know we'll be well on our way to winning."

RBS SIX NATIONS FRANCE v ENGLAND Today, Stade de France, 3.00 Referee Alain Rolland (Ire) Live, RTE Two, 2.30; BBC1, 2.25