Wilkinson's week of wait

England's 2003 World Cup hero Jonny Wilkinson will discover later this week when he can return to action following his latest injury setback.

Wilkinson admitted to being "frustrated as hell" by being kept on the sidelines with a bicep problem during England's November internationals, which culminated in Saturday's narrow 21-19 defeat to Australia at Twickenham.

But the Newcastle fly-half is optimistic he will soon be fit to play for club and country - if selected.

However his replacement at fly-half, Charlie Hodgson, has been impressive for England - putting more pressure on Wilkinson to perform on his return.

"If I'm not the right player to play for England then I would never expect to be picked," Wilkinson said in his column in The Times.

"But as I say, that's a whole 'leap of thought' away. I'm sitting here, frustrated as hell, and I'm not thinking about England this and England that and the whole selection situation. I'm just thinking I can't wait to play.

"It should be soon, that I am cleared fit for selection. Probably this coming Saturday or next week.

"I'll be getting a scan this week, which will tell me where I stand.

"As ever, I've done a lot of hard work, but to be honest, the real hard bit has been the sitting around and watching," he added.