Wilkinson's injury conjures depressing sense of deja vu

This is becoming a habit. Jonny Wilkinson, increasingly unable to string together more than a couple of games, faces his third significant injury lay-off in the space of 12 months after tearing the medial collateral ligament in his left knee.

He will miss England's first two Six Nations championship fixtures, against Wales and France next month, and may conceivably fail to appear in the tournament at all.

Depressing. Very depressing.

The World Cup-winning first five-eighths does not need surgery, but the average recovery period for ligament damage of this nature is six weeks.

England hope he will be available for the tough match with Ireland in Dublin on February 28, but that seems optimistic in the extreme.

As things stand, Charlie Hodgson of Sale can expect the prolonged run in the test team many believe he deserves.

"I have spoken to Jonny, and clearly this is bitterly disappointing news for him," said England coach Andy Robinson.

"He is a very good healer, but it is difficult to anticipate how long his knee will need to heal, or when he might be back in an England shirt."

Newcastle director of rugby Rob Andrew tried to paint a positive picture by describing the injury as "common" and insisting that "it is not as bad as it could have been".

Knee ligament problems are indeed two a penny in modern rugby, but the effect of cumulative injuries on Wilkinson's renowned competitive spirit is less easy to assess.

He has not played at test level since the World Cup final in Sydney 14 months ago, and must now be climbing the walls.

This problem comes on the back of major surgery to correct a career-threatening neck condition, which incapacitated him for eight months, and a worrying set of problems with his upper arm, which denied him the chance to captain his country in the internationals at Twickenham in the northern autumn.

Wilkinson was making only his second start since recovering from the last of those problems when he broke down 12 minutes from time during Newcastle's heavy Heineken Cup defeat in Perpignan on Monday.

He had contributed some of his trademark piledriver tackles - a central component of his game that some feared had been lost for good - and had turned in his usual faultless goal-kicking performance.

The word was that he was back on the up-escalator after more than a year of downward spiralling. This latest setback is cruel indeed.

In one sense, Robinson's selection problems have been eased.

The coach was not entirely convinced that both Wilkinson and Hodgson should play against the Welsh, with one of them at inside centre. Now, he can afford to put that aside until the middle of the Six Nations.

JONNY'S INJURY WOES

December 2003 - Learns he has a fractured facet in his shoulder.

February 2004 - Ruled out of the 2004 Six Nations championship, England's three-match tour of New Zealand and Australia.

August 2004 - Comeback after eight months out for Newcastle.

October 2004 - Haematoma in the upper right arm rules him out of the northern autumn test.

December 2004 - Makes comeback as substitute in Newcastle's Heineken Cup win over Edinburgh at Murrayfield.

January 9, 2005 - Injures knee in Newcastle's Heineken Cup loss in Perpignan.

- Independent