Wilkinson injury fears allayed

ROB ANDREW last night allayed the latest injury fears surrounding England captain Jonny Wilkinson, by declaring: “Physically, he’s fine.”

Wilkinson suffered a heavy blow to his right upper arm during Newcastle’s Zurich Premiership defeat against Wasps last weekend.

The World Cup winner then took only a limited part in England’s two-day training camp at Loughborough University this week, and he also sat out contact work with Newcastle.

But Falcons boss Andrew has named Wilkinson in the starting line-up to tackle Kingston Park visitors Saracens on Sunday, which will be his seventh successive league appearance this season.

Wilkinson made his comeback in August following eight months on the sidelines recovering from a career-threatening neck and shoulder problem.

And he is due to make a first international appearance since last November’s World Cup final when he leads England out against Canada at Twickenham in just over four weeks’ time.

“He’s got a dead arm,” said Andrew. “It is heavy bruising on his bicep, which he picked up in his comeback game against Connacht and is absolutely nothing to do with the injury he had before.

“The trouble with an injury like that is even though it isn’t serious as such, it’s still very painful if you get whacked on the same spot.

“That’s why Jonny hasn’t done contact training with us this week, even though he has done everything else, and why he didn’t train fully with England on Monday and Tuesday.

“He is fit for the weekend, though, and as for his form, I think he is going really well,” Andrew added.

“He’s getting back into the physicality of the Premiership, but he has probably stuttered a bit in recent weeks because the team collectively has.”

Of more concern to Wilkinson than a bruised arm, will be halting Newcastle’s slump in fortunes.

After winning their opening three league games, Falcons then suffered successive defeats against Gloucester, Leicester and Wasps, conceding 118 points and 14 tries in the process.

Andrew has made several changes for Saracens’ trip to Tyneside, when Wilkinson will lead a team without the services of Jamie Noon (sore calf muscle) and wing Tom May (back).

Australian star Matt Burke moves into midfield as Noon’s replacement, with 18-year-old prospect Mathew Tait taking over from May and Dave Walder lining up at full-back.