TEN years ago anyone so much as mentioning Rugby League in Union circles would have been tarred and feathered, banished to the stocks and stoned half to death. Now, as Newcastle's Jamie Noon has discovered to his cost, we have discrimination in reverse.

Not only are there two former RL men, Joe Lydon and Phil Larder, among the England 15-a-side coaches, we also now have Jason Robinson as captain and Henry Paul at centre.

I have no argument with Robinson filling in as skipper until Jonny Wilkinson is fit, but the selectors really have bent over too far in embracing the ex-RL brigade by preferring Paul to Noon, who has been in outstanding form for the Falcons.

Paul is not even English. He has 23 RL caps for his native New Zealand and has been trying for three years with Gloucester to prove he can be just as big a star in the other code, thereby doing a disservice to another North-Easterner.

Talented Teessider James Simpson-Daniel ought to be showing off his skills at centre instead of staying out on Gloucester's wing, but his greatest problem is staying fit. There was talk of Clive Woodward picking him at centre two years ago, only for Simpson-Daniel to go down with glandular fever, and he would have been on the wing against Canada tomorrow had he not suffered a hamstring injury.

Paul and Sale winger Mark Cueto have an easy chance to make an impact against Canada, but if there is any justice before the season is out we will see Noon and Simpson-Daniel in the England team together.

FROM Paul to Paula. The New York Marathon usually merits no more than a paragraph in English newspapers, but Ms Radcliffe's victory commanded sufficient newsprint to cut a 26-mile swathe through Keilder Forest.

Heaps of balderdash have been written about how she has erased the nightmare of Athens and won back the hearts of the British nation. No doubt her victory eased the pain, but no more. All the training she put in for the Olympics helped her to win in New York, but it's a small consolation.

At least she now knows she can still beat the best. But it will surely only make her want to have another crack at the Olympics as she will not be truly fulfilled until she has that gold medal. Her 31st birthday is approaching and it is going to be very interesting to see whether her body can withstand her punishing 140 miles a week training schedule for four more years. Perhaps she will reveal all about her intentions in her about-to-be-published book.

YES it's the time of year when autobiographies flood the market. Among those I mentioned last week was Vitali Klitschko's, and by the time sales are in full swing the world heavyweight champion will have defended his title against Danny Williams, who lost his British title to someone called Michael Sprott last January.

Yet in the crazy world of heavyweight boxing, Williams has subsequently used a victory against Mike Tyson as an unlikely stepping stone to this world title chance in Las Vegas on December 11. His training has included pushing his wife and two daughters around Brixton in their car, not surprisingly bringing offers of help from people thinking he was attempting a bump start.

In the unlikely event of a Williams victory perhaps even Audley Harrison will take him seriously, and we could have an all-British world title fight. Where can that pig be flying to?

IT has been easy to forget that Bryan Robson made his name at West Brom, a club who can no longer be seen as big-hitters. It smacks too much of nostalgia for them to appoint him manager and it won't do anything for his reputation if he suffers a second successive relegation after failing to save Bradford City.

Why doesn't a club like West Brom or Wolves approach Alan Shearer to be their player-manager? He would probably decline as he's obviously determined to win something in his last season as a Newcastle player.

But three successive defeats suggest there is no imminent end to the search for silverware, and as I observed at the start of the season Shearer's expectation of commanding a place in his final year is doing them no favours.

Graeme Souness is going to have to be brave enough to rotate his strikers to give Shola Ameobi a chance and find the best balance, and if Shearer doesn't like taking his turn on the sidelines then he might as well go and cut his teeth in management elsewhere.

EMLYN Hughes was a man of infectious enthusiasm, of whom the occasional faux pas could easily be forgiven, as with David Coleman.

The tributes to Emlyn and Eddie Charlton reminded me of the two most famous quotes starting: "For those of you with black and white sets." One came from Coleman and went on: "Liverpool are in the all red," the other from Ted Lowe in a match featuring Charlton: "The brown is behind the pink and the green behind the blue.