By Mally (12/12/03)
December 12 2003

Jonny Wilkinson's return to club rugby is to be postponed! Newcastle Falcons have today stated that Wilko will not be playing against Valladolid on Sunday, despite being named in the side announced earlier this week.

That shoulder again...

A Spokesperson for Newcastle Falcons said: "Following a precautionary x-ray last night on Jonny Wilkinson’s shoulder and neck, Newcastle Falcons have announced that he will not be playing against VRAC Valladolid on Sunday 14th December 2003. He will have a further CT scan on Saturday morning to provide further medial information.

This follows Jonny feeling some weakness and pain during training in the last week and the x-ray was taken as a precaution. The x-ray revealed an area of concern and had further investigations were warranted.

Obviously the club will do nothing to put any player at risk from an injury standpoint and we feel this is the best course of action to take at this moment.

We would like to stress that the injury was nothing to do with the car accident Jonny was involved in on Monday night."

Disappointment for fans

Falcons fans will be disappointed, as over 6,000 tickets have been sold for what was to be Wilkio's first club match since the world cup. However with a 61 point lead going into the second leg of the European tie, Wilko's absence from the side should not unduly effect the outcome of the game. Wilkinson was scheduled to play 10, with both Dave Walder and Phil Godman on the bench.

Newcastle Falcons Team as announced earlier this week:

1 Ian Peel
2 Matt Thompson
3 Micky Ward
4 Garath Archer
5 Mark Andrews
6 Epi Taione
7 Jon Dunbar
8 Hugh Vyvyan (Capt)
9 Hall Charlton
10 Jonny Wilkinson
11 Michael Stephenson
12 Mark Wilkinson
13 Jamie Noon
14 Tom May
15 Joe Shaw

Replacements

16 Marius Hurter
17 Nick Makin
18 Craig Hamilton
19 Geoff Parling
20 James Grindal
21 Phil Godman
22 Dave Walder

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