Fears that Jonny Wilkinson had aggravated the shoulder injury that kept him on the sidelines for the first eight months of the year were allayed yesterday by Rob Andrew, his head coach at Newcastle.
Wilkinson did not do any contact work with England this week after taking a knock at Wasps last Sunday, but he has been named in the Newcastle side for Sunday's Premiership match against Saracens at Kingston Park.
"Jonny suffered deep bruising on his bicep and it has nothing to do with the injury he had before," Andrew said. "He picked it up in Connacht in his comeback game, and though the problem is not serious, it's very painful if you get whacked again on the same spot."
The decision of the acting England head coach Andy Robinson to invest the captaincy of the national side in Wilkinson did not receive universal acclaim given the fly-half's form in the past six weeks, but Andrew said the 25-year-old had made an impressive comeback.
"I think he has gone really well," said Andrew. "He's getting back into the physicality of the Premiership and he has probably stuttered a bit in recent weeks because the team collectively has: we have conceded 11 tries in our last two matches and we need a steely defensive performance on Sunday. Jonny is fine physically. He has not done any contact training with us this week, but he is fit to play this weekend."
Robinson's appointment as England's head coach could be confirmed inside 24 hours after his 2-hour presentation to a Rugby Football Union panel at Twickenham yesterday.
Although only four members of the supposed five-man selection board were present - the former Bath and England centre Simon Halliday was unable to attend because of a business commitment - RFU sources indicated the 40-year-old Robinson would learn swiftly if he were to be chosen as Sir Clive Woodward's long-term successor.
After a 12-year old boy was taken to hospital following a half-time pitch invasion last weekend, the capacity for Llanelli's Welsh Premiership match against Cross Keys tomorrow has been cut from 10,800 to 4,649. The reduction may be reversed for the Heineken Cup visit of Toulouse next Friday if the Scarlets implement more effective crowd control.
