Rugby, Australian Football: Wilkinson injured again

England skipper Jonny Wilkinson will miss at least the first two games in the Six Nations tournament after sustaining a knee injury playing for Newcastle against French club Perpignan in the European Cup at the weekend.

Jonny Wilkinson sent a shudder through the England camp when he was taken off late in Newcastle's European Cup game early yesterday (AEDT) against Perpignan with a potentially serious knee injury. The England five-eighth, who has been plagued by injuries since the 2003 World Cup, was taken to a local clinic where a scan revealed he had a left knee strain.

One member of Newcastle's back-room staff revealed that Wilkinson's knee was badly swollen and causing him great pain.

Although the scan revealed there was no ligament damage, it would still take about four weeks for Wilkinson to recover fully, a medical source said.

This was Wilkinson's second start after recovering from a troublesome bicep injury. He scored all of Newcastle's points in the 33-12 loss, kicking four penalty goals before going off the field in the 69th minute.

Associated Press

Losing Wilkinson isn't the biggest problem. The problem is the number of centres that have been injured.

Don't you think he is a vital piece of the England team Faja?

He's a very useful player to have around and losing him will probably affect the team in some way. However, his place was filled well by Charlie Hodgson in the Autumn internationals (with the exception of goalkicking) who seems to be slightly better at getting the backs moving anyway. Like I said, a far greater problem comes in the centres with both Tindall and Greenwood ruled out and Noon, who is certainly good enough, suffering an injury against Perpignan.

[Edited on 1/11/05 by FAJA]

I tend to watch alot of the England games only, but to me we always seem to play better with Wilkinson in the side.

Is it just me lol?

I think Greenwood is a very good player, who have we got to replace them? Some of these newer guys i'm not that familiar with their names.

In my opinion, when he's fit Wilkinson is a far better player than Hodgson all round. However, Hodgson, like I have said does seem to be better at getting the backs moving and giving them space. With Wilkinson, it seems to be more orientated towards his kicking although I don't doubt he could probably start similar backline moves.

Your thoughts of England always playing better with Wilkinson were true. However, it's difficult to make a comparison with now as he hasn't played at international level since the world cup.

The possibilities for the centres are Stuart Abbott, Jamie Noon (who wasn't injured too badly it seems), Ollie Smith, Olly Barkley, Henry Paul, Mathew Tait or even Ben Cohen for some reason. However, none of them have the experience Greenwood has. Out of those, either Barkley or Paul have to be there in case Hodgson misfires with his kicking again.

Incidently, Dawson's been recalled as well which is slightly odd since England seem to be doing well enough with Gomarsall.

Sounds like Hodgson will be ok as a replacement.

What bugs me is though, that since we won the world cup we seem a shadow of our former self. I know a few players retired, but we have for the last so many years had decent players comming through. What i want to know is what and still is going wrong with the England side?

How comes he keeps getting injured? Did he come back too early or something?

Yea i noticed with England we havnt done as good since the world cup.

Originally posted by Sir
How comes he keeps getting injured? Did he come back too early or something?.

Not really, he's just been the victim of some severe bad luck.