England World Cup hero Jonny Wilkinson came through his first game for eight months seemingly unscathed in Galway on Tuesday.
Wilkinson made a 40 minute comeback appearance for his club Newcastle against Connacht in a pre-season friendly, kicking a penalty and making one trademark bone-crunching tackle.
There were no obvious signs of any problems following the surgery he underwent in February to resolve a neck and shoulder problem, and he watched the second-half from the Newcastle bench.
Wilkinson, who kicked the winning extra-time drop goal which handed England World Cup victory over Australia last year, was taking to the pitch for the first time since December 28 after England’s record points-scorer suffered a so-called ”stinger” injury.
In the 25-year-old’s absence England have won just three out of eight Tests.
He was sidelined for England’s entire 2004 Six Nations campaign, when they finished a lowly third, and the three summer Tests when they were beaten twice by New Zealand and once by Australia.
But now the 52 times-capped star, who has kicked 817 Test points, can realistically set his sights on an England return against Canada at Twickenham on November 13.
Newcastle won Tuesday’s encounter 32-9 in front of a 4 500-strong crowd at Galway’s Sportsground stadium.
Wilkinson swung the game into action with his metronomic left boot, and he quickly underlined Newcastle’s attacking approach by freeing his brother Mark, who featured in midfield alongside Jamie Noon.
England’s hero then found himself pinned at the bottom of a ruck after he was tackled by Connacht wing Ted Robinson, but he picked himself up and launched an impressive defensive clearance.
Newcastle made several early attacking raids, and their territorial dominance was rewarded when Wilkinson slotted a 25-metre penalty after six minutes.
Wilkinson was heavily involved early on, showing no sign of keeping anything in reserve, and he was typically combative in the close-quarter exchanges, again bouncing straight back up after Connacht number eight John O’Sullivan hit him with a powerful tackle.
Newcastle’s Premiership campaign kicks off at newly- promoted Worcester on September 5 with further warm-up games planned against Munster in Limerick next Monday and Pertemps Bees before the season gets under way. – Sapa-AFP