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    LONDON, England -- England World Cup hero Jonny Wilkinson is facing yet another prolonged spell on the sidelines after lacerating his left kidney in his latest comeback match for club side Newcastle. Wilkinson, who has suffered 10 separate injuries since landing the winning drop goal in the 2003 final against Australia, is out for at least a month after suffering the freak injury in a win over Bristol last week. "I can't really pinpoint the hit which did the damage," he told The Times. "I felt it but was able to carry on. I don't think it really hindered the way I was playing. "The annoying fact is that it seems that playing on may have made it a lot worse." "I was in discomfort throughout the weekend. It was after that I had the scan, which showed quite a bad laceration. "It's so uncomfortable, training would have been out of the question. I still can't walk without feeling it. "Kidneys do heal quite quickly, but the specialist has seen the scans and says that I cannot do anything at all for at least a month. I'm so disappointed," he added. England have struggled in Wilkinson's absence, missing his metronomic kicking, and have slipped to sixth place in the world rankings ahead of next year's World Cup. Attacking initiativeCoach Andy Robinson has called for England to repeat the attacking initiative that brought three tries against the All Blacks when they face Argentina at Twickenham on Saturday. Although England suffered a record 41-20 home defeat at the hands of the New Zealanders last week, their sixth loss in a row, Robinson made only one injury-enforced change in his team to face the Pumas. New Zealand-born Perry Freshwater gets his first start at loosehead prop instead of the injured Andy Sheridan with three further changes on the bench. Robinson said that England mistakes had gifted the All Blacks 24 points but there had also been many encouraging aspects to the performance. "We did some really good things out there and there was a confidence about the way we played. To score three, potentially four tries against New Zealand was a real positive and its important that the team take that on," he said. Debutant centre Anthony Allen handed the All Blacks two tries, but the 20-year-old also looked sharp, making several half-breaks and setting up a try for centre partner Jamie Noon. "Some of the touches he showed were top drawer, he was a lot more in credit than debit," said Robinson, who was widely criticized for dropping Mathew Tait after a poor debut last year. England have won eight, drawn one and lost two of their tests against Argentina and were also held to a 13-13 home draw in a non-cap international in 1978. Leinster's Felipe Contepomi will play at flyhalf for Argentina at Twickenham, coach Marcelo Loffreda said when he named his team on Thursday. Contepomi, who will link with captain Agustin Pichot at half back, is preferred to Federico Todeschini, the flyhalf in all of Argentina's previous tests this year. "We know Felipe is playing well for Leinster. We wanted to see him with the team as number 10," Loffreda said. Contepomi has usually played at inside centre for the Pumas in recent years, including the 25-25 draw with the British and Irish Lions in Cardiff in 2005 and home tests against Wales and New Zealand in 2006. |
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Wilkinson has not played for England since the World Cup final in 2003.
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