Rugby Union: Robinson Plans for Six Nations Without Barkley and Wilkinson

Jonny Wilkinson's comeback from a groin operation has again been put on hold, and England also face being without the Bath fly-half Olly Barkley for the entire Six Nations campaign after he had an operation on the thumb he dislocated against Leinster on Sunday.

England's Gloucester prop Phil Vickery will also be out of action until the end of April at the earliest. He will have an operation tomorrow to relieve pressure on a nerve root caused by a disc protrusion. It will be the third time the 29-year-old has had surgery on his back and there are real fears that he will follow his fellow World Cup final prop Trevor Woodman into premature international retirement.

Wilkinson has not played since the middle of November and with Newcastle not in action until February 12 after tomorrow's match against Saracens his latest spell on the sidelines will stretch to at least three months. Although the Falcons had hoped to see him back in action at the end of last month the outside-half strained a stomach muscle in training and is being monitored on a weekly basis. "People keep asking me about Jonny Wilkinson but I will repeat what I have said every week for the last month," said Newcastle's director of rugby Rob Andrew. "When he is fit, we will consider him. At the moment we are just letting him recover and it would be stupid to force the issue."

The loss of Wilkinson and Barkley has disrupted the plans of the England head coach Andy Robinson, who was criticised last autumn for his midfield pairing of Jamie Noon and Mike Tindall, two outside-centres by preference. Robinson was considering choosing a playmaker at inside-centre and his options did not stretch beyond Wilkinson and Barkley.

"We all feel for Olly because he was in contention to start against Wales next week," said Robinson. It was initially thought he would be out for two weeks but surgery was needed to reset the dislocation in his right thumb. Better news for Robinson is the return of the flanker Pat Sanderson for Worcester at Bristol tonight. The Warriors captain has not played for six weeks because of a back problem. His England back-row partner last autumn, Lewis Moody, will play for Leicester against Sale tomorrow after a 62-day ban for fighting, only his 16th appearance for the Tigers in 99 matches.