Falcons confirm Wilko op

Wilkinson: Required second operation

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Newcastle fly-half Jonny Wilkinson has undergone a second operation in a bid to assess the damage to his knee.

Wilkinson suffered a dislocation during a Premiership encounter against Gloucester in October, with the England ace requiring an initial operation on the injury.

However, following reports Wilkinson would need to undergo surgery for a second time, the Falcons have confirmed that the procedure has already taken place.

Falcons rugby director Steve Bates said: "As was always the plan, the back-up to the original operation was to have an arthroscopy, which took place in the north-east a couple of weeks ago.

"That was to assess whether the initial operation had been a success.

"The surgeon who did that original operation is saying that everything looks okay to proceed on to the next stage of his rehabilitation, which will involve making sure that strengthening, flexibility and all those sorts of issues are dealt with.

"That has a timescale all of its own, depending on how he responds, but at least the initial hurdle seems to have been overcome.

"There was always going to be a little doubt about whether the original operation had been a success, as with all operations.

"Now that we are hopefully past that stage, it's just a case of continually monitoring how he progresses, rather than now giving a timescale of when he will be back playing."