Jonny Wilkinson's hopes of a return to Premiership action at Bath this weekend seem to have been dashed. There were suggestions that the Falcons and England fly-half, who is attracting the interest of French clubs Toulon, Racing Metro and Brive, would be fit to make his comeback at The Rec on Saturday. But Wilkinson has suffered a slight reaction to the knee he dislocated last September and which needed an operation after stepping up his training schedule as he battles to convince the British Lions selectors he would be fit to tour this summer.
March had been pencilled in as a target date for a return and that may well still be the case but it is more likely to be against Leicester at Kingston Park a week on Friday than this weekend. The Falcons director of rugby Steve Bates said: "Jonny will be back when he's ready to be back and we're a little bit uncertain about this weekend – I think the odds are a little bit against. He's been training hard, which he needed to do, but there has been a little bit of a reaction to that and we will probably not include him this weekend – that would be a hasty, but he is very close and we will see that happens next week.
"He has had a long lay-off and a quite significant operation and we have to go through everything that he might encounter during a game and make sure he is 100 per cent. This week he has done a little bit more intensity and his knee has reacted a little by swelling up a bit. I think that is to be expected. He's putting it through its paces and we have to expect that it's not going to be automatically right every time. He is making fantastic progress but we have to be sure he is right before we put him back on the field."
When Wilkinson does come back, it could be in the No12 shirt with Bates saying: "There's been no decision made on that, but it will be interesting because we have a bloke [Tom May] who has been playing well at No10 and do we need to restructure the team when thing are going well?"
Newcastle will be aiming for their sixth Premiership win in a row on Saturday – their best run since their championship -winning season of 1997-98 and seventh place in the table and maybe qualification for next season's Heineken Cup is a possibility for Newcastle.
That has helped three players opt to sign new contracts this week and Bates added: "Players want to play at the highest possible level and winning the last six games has been a huge boost in terms of recruitment and retention, there is no doubt about that. Whether that extends to Jonny only time will tell, but it certainly puts us in a stronger position.
"As far as I am concerned we're in the same position as last weekend – I'm not aware that any offer has been tabled from Toulon for Jonny. All we're saying to Jonny is 'get fit and work really hard on your rehab and concentrate on that and than if your guys come to us and say this is what's happening then,OK, that's different'. But at the moment I'm assuming he'll be here next season."
Three players who will be are the England Under-20 fly-half Rob Miller, seen as Wilkinson's natural successor, the lock Tim Swinson and the wing Danny Williams. Miller, 19, has signed a new one-year deal, Williams has opted for two years as has Swinson. Meanwhile, reports that Doncaster back-rower Josh Afu has completed a move to Newcastle have been refuted by Bates. The 21-year-old Tongan international back-row has been offered a contract, but no deal has yet been finalised.
