Jonny Wilkinson is on course to start the new season with Newcastle on time after being given the all-clear to resume full contact training next week.

The 25-year-old England fly-half has not played since the end of last year when he compounded a long-standing neck and shoulder problem. He underwent surgery in March and, with his comeback date put back several times, there was speculation that he would not play again.

But the Newcastle conditioning coach Steve Black said: "I have been training Jonny for eight years and he has never looked in better shape.

"I should be putting out videos on his progress for the benefit of those who doubt he will ever get back on to the field because he is in sensational condition. The aim is for Jonny to play our first league match against Worcester at the beginning of September and he is raring to go. It is the first time he has had a long break since he started playing senior rugby, and it has done him a lot of good."

Newcastle started their pre-season training yesterday which Wilkinson missed because he was on a promotional tour of the Far East with his kit sponsors.

He said in Singapore yesterday: "If there was a game this weekend, I would put my name down.

"Now I am able to do contact work again, it is a case of making sure that I can take some hits without getting too much of a shock.

"It is just a matter of putting in work in the training field and getting the experience of contact once again. It has been a long wait, but I had to get all the movement back in my shoulder before I was allowed to do full training. I had to be patient."

England have had a hard time of it since Wilkinson dropped the goal which won them the World Cup in Sydney in November. They have lost five matches out of eight since then, but their record points-scorer is confident the good times will soon roll again.

"We are in a position where we now have to build for the next World Cup," Wilkinson added. "We're going to learn a lot from what has happened in the last few months and develop the next time we hit the pitch," Wilkinson is also visiting Hong Kong and Japan before returning to Newcastle.

Meanwhile, the 35-year-old Wales second row Gareth Llewellyn, who was dropped from the Neath-Swansea Ospreys' squad in February and forced to train with semi-professional Swansea, yesterday signed a one-year contract with Narbonne, saying that he hoped to add to his record 90 caps.