Wilkinson out for 'four to six' weeks

More misery for England star

England coach Andy Robinson fears Jonny Wilkinson will miss at least the first two matches of England's RBS Six Nations campaign after suffering a knee injury during Newcastle's 33-12 Heineken Cup defeat against Perpignan on Saturday.

The injury-jinxed fly-half limped off 11 minutes from time and went for a scan on his swollen left knee which revealed medial ligament damage, and is expected to be sidelined for four to six weeks.

Should this be the case, Wilkinson would miss England's first two matches - against Wales in Cardiff on February 5 and against France at Twickenham a week later but might be back in time for the Ireland match in Dublin on February 27.

"It is enormously frustrating, having come back from injury twice already this season, to have to miss even more rugby," said Wilkinson.

"It felt at the time like I had taken a hit but I am told from people on the sidelines that it wasn't, it just felt like that because of the pain.

"Now, I have to focus on getting past this, and I am determined to put it behind me and come back even stronger.

"I have recovered from injuries before and I am totally focused on moving onwards from here."

Falcons boss Rob Andrew admitted there was relief that Wilkinson's injury was not more serious, but frustration that he had suffered three unrelated injuries one after the other.

"He had an MRI scan last night and there is quite a lot of relief that it is not as bad as it could have been," Andrew told BBC Radio Five Live.

"It is a medial ligament problem. It is a fairly common injury in the game and most medics would say it needs a minimum of four to six weeks' rehabilitation and there is no surgery involved.

"It is extraordinary that there have been three injuries which are totally unrelated.

"They have all come on top of each other and this injury yesterday could have happened to anyone - it is the kind of injury that is very common."

A six-week rehabilitation would mean Wilkinson being able to resume training towards the end of February but it would then take some time for him to achieve match fitness, meaning that England's game in Italy on March 12 might be the earliest he could be considered for a comeback.

"This is Johnny's third injury in a row and to be out for four to six weeks is bitterly disappointing," said England coach Andy Robinson.

"He is a very good healer so we have just got to wait and see. It is very difficult to speculate on these things but we are probably without him for the first two games and hopefully he will then be ready for the Ireland match."

Wilkinson was out for eight months last year recovering from a serious neck and shoulder problem before a bicep injury meant a further eight weeks out and missing England's autumn Test programme.

Wilkinson has made five comeback appearances - two starts and three off the replacements' bench - since recovering from the bicep problem.

Wilkinson has not played Test rugby since the World Cup final almost 14 months ago, and England lost more games than they won in his prolonged absence.

Robinson handed Charlie Hodgson the fly-half jersey in Wilkinson's place for the autumn games against Canada, South Africa and Australia.

And it is believed that Robinson might have been considering fielding England's record points scorer Wilkinson at inside centre, given midfield problems caused by injuries to Mike Tindall and Will Greenwood.