High time for Noon

It is a curiosity - inevitable, of course, in contact sport - how sometimes there seems a pattern in the injuries that dictate selection. Take England's fraught midfield, an area which has never settled since the departure of Will Greenwood four years ago and which, against Italy in Rome on Sunday, will be the preserve of Newcastle Falcons.

Mike Tindall, a World Cup winner in 2003, would have gone to the 2007 global tournament but for breaking a leg playing for Gloucester last April. The player who, in effect, took over at outside centre was Jamie Noon, whose World Cup ended prematurely when he was carried off at the Stade de France with severely rearranged knee ligaments on a night when so many English hopes were apparently washed away in the 36-0 pool defeat by South Africa.

Yet that sequence of events created the opportunity for Mathew Tait to emerge as, if not quite the saviour of English back play, then precious close to it. Tait had made two appearances as a replacement wing and full back in the first two pool matches; thereafter he did not miss a single game in the number 13 jersey and provided the most memorable moment of the final, also against the Springboks, with the slashing break which so nearly conjured a try.

Now here we go again. Tindall has lingered this week in a London hospital after bruising his liver so severely in the defeat by Wales last weekend that he spent several days in intensive care. Into his place comes Noon and there, lurking on the bench, is Tait who did not feature in the match squad against Wales.

Noon will never make it into anyone's list of all-time England centres but you wish so whole-hearted and skilful a player well. Like so many players, he has mixed feelings at being the beneficiary of a colleague's misfortunes while hoping that he can secure a regular place during the RBS Six Nations Championship; his bitter-sweet moments in recent months include his return to Paris last October for the World Cup final, where from the stands he watched England gradually ground out of contention.

The compensatory element was the return to family life - he and Rachel, his wife, have two small children - and the chance to take Rachel to Paris for the final. "It can be harder on them when I'm away and for her to experience some of what I do was nice," Noon, 28, said.

Satisfactory, too, if Noon, Toby Flood and Jonny Wilkinson can recreate what they did for Newcastle in the Guinness Premiership game with Saracens at Watford just after Christmas. The Falcons, who had not won on the road for months, provided some magic touches behind the scrum and Tait, full back that afternoon, scored the first try - to be followed over the line by Flood and Noon. From Vicarage Road to the Stadio Flaminio...

Comments

[Ben]

I do agree that Noon is a very good player, but I have to question playing a newcastle three quarter line when newcastle have been performing with such mediocrity this season. They lack class as a back line and, blame this on who you will, are quite obviously not good enough together to perform as the England backline. Noon, Tait and Flood are all good enough by themselves but do not create a dangerous backline together.

[Tony Gold]

Jamie Noon will be 32 years of age at the next RWC - the peak of sporting maturity for a centre. Hopefully B. Ashton will start looking at age and the fact that England players need three or four seasons of regular appearances to achieve world class. There is no time to waste.