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Wilkinson to miss November matches
 Wilkinson has not played for England since his drop goal won the World Cup LONDON, England -- Jonny Wilkinson appears set to miss England's November rugby union internationals after undergoing surgery to remove an inflamed appendix. The flyhalf was taken ill with appendix problems while touring with his club Newcastle in Japan last month. He recovered and was due to play at the weekend but further problems led to the operation on Friday. He now faces between four and six weeks out of action making him highly unlikely to feature in England's games against Australia (November 12), New Zealand (November 19) and Samoa (November 26). "I think it pretty much puts paid to the autumn internationals," said Newcastle director of rugby Rob Andrew. If Wilkinson were to miss the games it would make it two years since his last England appearance -- when his drop goal won the World Cup final against Australia in November 2003. He played for the British and Irish Lions in New Zealand in June despite having only a handful of games for his club but look way short of his best and was eventually ruled out of contention with neck and shoulder injuries. That ended an 18-month period during which he had undergone shoulder surgery and suffered a serious knee ligament injury then arm and further knee problems. The 26-year-old was named as England captain by coach Andy Robinson when he took over from Clive Woodward last year, but has yet to lead the team. "Let him play, see how he's playing and then make a judgement on whether he should play for England. Don't pick him before he has played any rugby, because it doesn't do him or the team any favous at all," said Andrew. "He needs the chance to come back mentally and physically until he is comfortable. He went on the Lions tour when they took him needing games, didn't give him games, then threw him in to the test side out of position against the best team in the world," added Andrew. "He wasn't given a chance to prove himself, so he was straight in, unprepared, and we all know what happened. "The odd thing is that they have all been totally separate injuries, not related to each other, and it's made him very philosophical about the whole thing." 
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