Noon calls for flexibility at 10

FORMER England centre Jamie Noon believes England need to be more flexible with their flyhalf choice going forward, and select differently depending on the opponent.

- By CAMERON STEPHENS

After Fin Smith stole the show on his starting debut last weekend, debate has raged about whether he should replace Marcus Smith as England's fly-half, after the latter missed a couple of kicks from full-back during the game.

Noon, speaking on The Rugby Paper podcast, gave an alternative insight into how to deal with the two players, explaining that it doesn't have to be a case of one being a permanent starter.

He said: "With Marcus and Fin you have got two different why not use that to benefit England? products, so "It doesn't have to necessarily be 'you're my number one every time', but instead can be - in this particular game we want to play this style and we will go with Marcus and this is what we want to do, we want to be attacking around here or slightly closer or need more of a maverick to unlock defences.

"Or if we want to be safe, want to really control the game and make good decisions and not give the opposition the opportunities to get into the game and be squeaky clean, then we will go with Fin.