Wilko will not miss Six Nations, says Andrew
The Newcastle and England fly-half was taken to hospital for x-rays after aggravating a shoulder injury in the Falcons' 23-19 Zurich Premiership win over Northampton at Kingston Park.
It was his first game since helping England to World Cup glory five weeks ago and it was feared another lay-off could make him doubtful for England's clash with Italy in seven weeks time.
But Andrew said: "He's fine, the x-ray has shown that there's no further damage to the break. Clearly there is soft-tissue damage from a very heavy tackle.
"It's a bit early to say at this stage how long he will be out, probably the next 48 hours will tell.
"I don't expect him to miss the Six Nations. He may well not play next week but we're talking a few weeks probably rather than anything serious."
The news will comfort England coach Clive Woodward during his Christmas skiing holiday in Switzerland, particularly after Bath centre Mike Tindall was ruled out of England's Grand Slam defence earlier in the day.
Tindall ruptured all three of the lateral ligaments in his right ankle in yesterday's win over Saracens and he will undergo an operation this week before then embarking on a 12-week rehabilitation programme.
Wilkinson looked set to join him on the sidelines as he was helped off early in the second half at Kingston Park after falling in a heap while attempting a tackle.
Andrew said: "He's pretty fed up, as you would expect from anyone who has missed the last five weeks since the World Cup. He's been desperate to play.
"But it goes with the territory. It's a very tough physical sport. We just need to let it settle for a couple of days before we know the extent of the injury."
However, there was no doubt over Tindall's prognosis after yesterday's MRI scan uncovered extensive tissue damage in the blockbusting centre's right ankle.
"It is a great shame for Mike. The x-ray showed that there was no fracture, but ligament damage is often worse than a break," said Bath coach John Connolly.
"It looks as though he will be out for around 12 weeks which means that he will certainly miss the Six Nations."
These developments herald a worrying statistic a remarkable 15 members of England's World Cup squad have been unable to play or have left the pitch early in this weekend's round of Premiership fixtures, including seven of the team which started the Sydney final.
Mike Catt (hamstring) and Iain Balshaw (calf) are in Bath's treatment room while Leicester are missing forwards Lewis Moody (foot), Martin Corry (hamstring), Dorian West (knee) and Julian White (knee).
Gloucester's Phil Vickery (rib) and Leeds' Mark Regan (foot) are both unavailable and Saracens have been hit by the loss of influential flanker Richard Hill who picked-up a broken nose during England's clash with the New Zealand Barbarians.
Winger Ben Cohen (groin) and scrum-half Matt Dawson (calf) are missing for Northampton while Wasps' 34-19 triumph over championship rivals London Irish yesterday was achieved without Lawrence Dallaglio (knee) and Stuart Abbott (ankle).
In addition, three more of England's stars in Australia Martin Johnson, Steve Thompson and Paul Grayson have been on bench duty after picking-up knocks over the past two weeks.
Although Tindall's loss will be a mighty blow he has developed into one of the world's finest centres since making his debut in 2000 Woodward has a couple of ready made replacements in Catt and Abbott.
Wilkinson's shoes would be considerably harder to fill, however, with Catt, Paul Grayson and Alex King all competing to replace the current darling of English sport.





