Noon ready for England battle

Jamie Noon has spoken of his determination to cement his Six-Nations place.

England centre Jamie Noon has spoken of his steely determination to have a successful autumn for England, in order to cement his Test place for the Six-Nations in February.

Noon is one of the front-runners for selection at centre in Andy Robinson's next England starting line-up, but the Newcastle man is refusing to accept that he has already made his breakthrough.

The 25-year-old is well aware of the competition he faces from the likes of Stuart Abbott, Mike Tindall and Ollie Smith for the centre position, and Noon admits that he is only focused on improving his own performance levels ahead of the opening international against Australia.

"I don't think you ever have a breakthrough year with England, you just have to keep going and keep performing consistently," said the focused Noon.

"The last game I played (for England) I scored three tries and felt I'd played pretty well, but it's still very much a building process for me.

"It's important for me to be around for the next Six Nations, and to do that I'll have to go well in the autumn."

The Falcons centre has made a highly impressive start to the current campaign, despite his side's erratic results, and his enterprising running has been key to some fine attacking performances from Newcastle.

Now he hopes that he can take such form into the three Tests against the Wallabies, New Zealand and Samoa, and Noon also admits to harbouring ambitions of playing on the next Lions tour in four years time.

"I really didn't think I would be involved with the Lions to be honest so it wasn't too much of a let-down not being selected.

"It was just one of those things not to be picked, but I'll be looking to be involved next time around."