Jamie Noon’s attempts at attacking rugby should be remembered in the same disparaging and dismissive manner as Al Baxter’s troubled career as an international prop has been.
As shown, or perhaps it would be better put, not shown, in England’s limp defeat to New Zealand in the second test at Christchurch, Noon is incapable of performing his job on the rugby field. Defensive competency simply does not outweigh his non-existence as an attacking entity.
England went into the game focussed on defence and it would be very hard to accuse them of contributing much more than that. Matthew Tait tried hard but Noon was nowhere.
His repeated selection for England is more a reflection of English rugby’s mindset that ‘forwards are forwards and backs are something similar’ than it is an endorsement of his abilities as a rugby player.
Big and stocky, Noon looks every bit a champion rugby player off the field. Unfortunately it is a bit hard to describe his attacking play on the field as he is so rarely spotted doing anything with the ball.
While Baxter has suffered the repeated indignity of both deserved and occasionally undeserved ridicule, Noon has coasted through his career without his glaring and quite frankly embarrassing inadequacies being so mercilessly mocked.
Al Baxter is far from the world’s best prop however I have not seen many sportsmen continue to keep on keeping on against such a force of derision as Baxter has encountered. A healthy ARU salary no doubt provides some motivation but surely not enough to explain his resilience to the continued barbs of writers like Stephen Jones and some closer to home, this writer included.
The image of Paul Newman’s defiant Cool Hand Luke continuing to fight when he was well past beaten comes to mind with Baxter’s career.
You must wonder why the northern hemisphere scribes feel so keen to personally humiliate an Australian who struggles at sport yet their southern counterparts feel compelled to politely adore the limited performance of English superstars like Jonny Wilkinson. I guess it is all to do with how each part of the world sees the other.
Certainly Noon is as poor a centre as Baxter is a prop but to date the English centre has yet to carry the cross for his personal shortcomings. Can these inadequacies continue to be hidden behind the occasional bluff and bluster of England’s forward pack?
That’s a question for Martin Johnson.
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