The England captain Jonny Wilkinson was yesterday named in the 40-man squad for next month's three friendly internationals at Twickenham even though he has been told to rest his injured arm for the next five weeks.

The England head coach Andy Robinson, who succeeded Sir Clive Woodward this month, will be taking charge of the side for the first time and has refused to accept that the Newcastle fly-half will not be available, though he named three other specialists in the position in the squad.

Robinson will assess Wilkinson's fitness when the squad meets next Monday and the player himself remains sanguine about his chances of returning to action quicker than expected.

"I am not ruling myself out for the November internationals," said Wilkinson. "I am trying various medical routes because there are theories that some treatments could make things worse. At the moment I am going through exploratory tests to see what is best for me."