Injury-jinxed Wilkinson limped off 11 minutes from time and went for a scan on his swollen left knee which revealed medial ligament damage.

Englands World Cup hero was still in France on Sunday morning as Newcastle rugby director Rob Andrew and England head coach Robinson gave their verdicts on how long Wilkinsons latest injury lay-off might last.

Robinson felt Wilkinson would miss Englands first two matches - against Wales in Cardiff on February 5 and against France at Twickenham a week later but might be back in time for the Ireland match in Dublin on February 27.

Robinson told BBC Radio Five Lives Sportsweek: This is Jonnys third injury in a row and to be out for four to six weeks is bitterly disappointing.

He is a very good healer so we have just got to wait and see. It is very difficult to speculate on these things but we are probably without him for the first two games and hopefully he will then be ready for the Ireland match.

Andrew admitted there was relief that Wilkinsons injury was not more serious and frustration that he had suffered three unrelated injuries one after the other.

He had an MRI scan (on Saturday night) and there is quite a lot of relief that it is not as bad as it could have been, he said.

It is a medial ligament problem. It is a fairly common injury in the game and most medics would say it needs a minimum of four to six weeks' rehabilitation and there is no surgery involved.

It is extraordinary that there have been three injuries which are totally unrelated.

They have all come on top of each other and this injury could have happened to anyone - it is the kind of injury that is very common.

A six-week rehabilitation would mean Wilkinson being able to resume training towards the end of February but it would then take some time for him to achieve match fitness, meaning that Englands game in Italy on March 12 might be the earliest he could be
considered for a comeback.

Wilkinson was out for eight months last year recovering from a serious neck and shoulder problem before a bicep injury meant a further eight weeks out and missing Englands autumn Test programme.