The England centre led his team to a memorable 22-19 victory at the much-fancied Saracens, scoring the winning try to boot, but he insists that rather than dwell on one significant performance, attention is focused firmly on this weekend and the challenge of Worcester.
“Everyone is on a bit of a high after the Saracens game, but for me the real test for us is going to be this Sunday, rather than last,” said the man who has scored 53 tries in his 199 starts for the club.
“A lot of people had written us off based on our away record, Saracens' place in the league and all the rest of it, but this weekend at home against a side lower down the league than us, people expect us to win. The mental side of how we deal with that will be a big marker for our season, and if we get the win then we feel it can be a catalyst for our whole season as we go in to two weeks of vital European games.
“It shouldn't be hard for us to apprach the game in the right frame of mind, because we're all professional players and all desperate to put in a winning performance both individually and collectively. But the pressure is massively on us to deliver this week, because Worcester are a good side despite their league position, and could provide a huge banana skin.”
Asked the strengths of the Worcester team, Noon said: “They haven't won a league game this season, but they've been very close pretty much every week, and we know they're not far away from being a good side with the players they have in their squad.
“They have a big pack which competes very well, and they will ask us some tough questions in the driving parts of the game and the set piece as they have done in previous seasons.
“Loki Crichton starts at fly half and is a great player who was a real asset to this club during his time here last season, so I'm sure he will look to cause us problems at the weekend. He is just one of a number of players when you look down their side that can really test you, but winning games is the key and that's what we'll look to be doing.”
With illness having ravaged through the Falcons squad in the past fortnight, Noon said: “It's been a bit of a disrupted week because training has been cancelled Monday and Tuesday, but we had exactly the same situation last week and it didn't seem to affect us too much at Saracens.
“We played okay in parts, but last week wasn't the be all and end all for us. We have higher aspirations, and we believe if we can get things right in terms of the way we want to play, then we can take this club forward.
“If we win this weekend we don't climb any places up the table, but we put ourselves right in the mixer of teams in the top half. We believe we have a side that is capable of achieving something, with exciting players, and it's getting more and more likely that this unit will knit together well.
“The next step from there is consistency, like we talk about every week, and that is something we are devoting a lot of time to in our preparation.
“Last season we played games where we've beaten the European or the English champions, and been deserved winners, but then the following week we've played a so-called lesser side and let ourselves down. That's not to say I put Worcester in that category at all, but the point I'm making is that this weekend will be more of a real test of where we are than last Sunday at Saracens.”
Despite his late winner Noon insisted there was still plenty of room for improvement, stating: “The disappointing aspect is that we could have and should have scored more tries in the first half.
“When we were only nine points up at half time it kind of felt like we'd been cheated a bit because we were so close to doing better things, but I suppose every game is a bit like that and it's more a test of character as to how you come through it.
“We all make mistakes in life, but if we want to be the side that we want to be, we just need to tighten up on the errors and be much more precise in our execution. What we must do though is take the positives, because there were plenty of them.”
And with the captaincy as an extra bonus for a man befitting Noon's status as a double centurion, he said: “Captaining a team like Newcastle is a massive, massive honour for me, I can't stress that enough.
“But the key for me is to get Phil Dowson back, because he is the club captain. He is a great leader and it's important to have him back fit, but in the meantime I'm more than happy to keep it warm for him and do the job as best I can.
“I'm not a massive talker, to be honest, I don't shout and scream at the players or give them a big pep talk in the changing room. Other people can do that, because that's their personality, the approach I have is more just to lead by example, try to do the right things and take other people with me down that road.
“With the squad we have it doesn't take that much leading, in fairness, when you've got guys like Jonny who run the show in the backs anyway, and people like Carl Hayman, Mark Sorenson and Joe McDonnell upfront. It pretty much takes care of itself.” |
