Jonny Wilkinson's long-awaited return will finally take place next week when England's fly-half plays in his first competitive fixture of 2004 for Newcastle in a pre-season game against Connacht in Galway.

After eight months out with shoulder and neck problems which required surgery in February Wilkinson is at last ready to test his much discussed right shoulder and clear the first mental hurdle on the road back to the international stage.

During his lay-off Wilkinson has recognised the need to enjoy his rugby more and, despite an obvious desire to add to his 817 points in 52 Tests for England, an increasingly philosophical 25-year-old will be returning to the fray next Tuesday evening.

"The aim is to come back better but I can't predict the future," said the fly-half yesterday. "I really want to concentrate on just going out there and making the most of the time I've got. You never quite know when the finish line is and for me it could have been March this year.

"There was a threat that the nerve was too damaged and didn't want to come back and that was scary at the time but all the tests showed that it will in time. Coming back there is a real excitement . . . but, having been out for so long, I've learnt that I really need to enjoy what I'm doing more instead of seeing the pressure too much."

New Zealand have dropped their stand-off Carlos Spencer from their 22-man squad for Saturday's Tri-Nations game against South Africa in Johannesburg in favour of his predecessor Andrew Mehrtens. The Springboks have made four changes with the athletic No8 Joe van Niekerk returning for the first time since injuring a knee at the World Cup.

· The Rugby Football Union has been asked to judge if Sir Clive Woodward's criticisms of match officials in New Zealand in June deserve censure. International Rugby Board officials sent a tape of his remarks to Twickenham yesterday but no disciplinary recommendations have been attached.