IN THE end it was rather romantic. A sunset glowing pink and orange behind the Tyne Bridge, ten past six and 10 to 10. “So which of us has got the most bits of metal in them?” Michael Owen asks, by way of introduction.

“I haven’t got any,” Jonny Wilkinson replies.

“So I win that one,” Owen says. “I wish I didn’t.”

“But have you done a groin?” Wilkinson proffers.

“No. That’s one-all,” Owen counters quickly. “I hope you win this game.”

And on we go. This is a strange kind of blind date. The two have never met, yet know each other nevertheless. They have been the pin-up names of Newcastle sport for the 14 months since Owen became a Magpie and yet, in that time, have played only a handful of games between them.

They have both won BBC Sports Personality of the Year and watched each other on TV, yet never in the flesh. Wilkinson has even spent large chunks of time at Newcastle United’s indoor training centre in Longbenton and has come across a number of United footballers there; but never Owen.

It has taken a year for the two Newcastle No 10s to meet, a succession of dates being cancelled, invariably at the hands of another injury. But with the pair of them crocked simultaneously — Wilkinson hopes to make his latest comeback a week today — unhappy circumstance finally unites them.

“You feel lonely when you’re injured,” Owen says, albeit that he had now found something of a soul-mate. “I’d like to put a sticker on my head saying:

‘Doing fine, thanks. Don’t ask.’ It is a challenge mentally being injured, but I do feel I can cope with it.”

This last statement is noted down in Wikinson’s head. “Do you ever,” Wilkinson asks, “get that feeling on a Saturday: ‘I am a football player and I am not playing, so what am I? I am a bit purposeless.’ ”

“A little bit,” Owen replies, though you suspect he is being charitable here.

“Guilt” is a word they both relate to regarding injury. Wilkinson says his sympathies lie with José María Olazábal, who returned endorsement cheques when he was not playing; if he agrees with that sentiment, Owen does not say so.