England sweat over Wilkinson scan

Jonny Wilkinson is expected to undergo a scan on Tuesday after turning up for England duty ahead of the forthcoming autumn international campaign nursing a shoulder problem.

The Toulon fly-half is one of five England players struggling with injuries less than a fortnight before Martin Johnson's men tackle New Zealand

at Twickenham on November 6.

Northampton flanker Tom Wood, Saracens centre Brad Barritt and Wasps' versatile forward Dan Ward-Smith also joined the England squad on Monday.

Wilkinson started the season in prime form for Toulon and is pushing for a return to the England starting XV after losing his place to Toby Flood during last season's Six Nations.

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Flood has only just returned from a knee ligament injury and England will announce later on Tuesday whether or not they will release the Leicester fly-half to play against Gloucester at the weekend.

The same applies to Lewis Moody, who has been sidelined for nearly a month with an eye injury but Fourie's injury could force Johnson to wrap his captain in cotton wool.

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Rugby: Irvine set for Lions manager role

Scotland legend Andy Irvine is set to be confirmed as the manager of the British & Irish Lions tour to Australia in 2013.

The 59-year-old former fullback, capped 60 times by his country, is reportedly in line to rekindle his relationship with the Lions that began in 1974 when he first toured South Africa as a 22-year-old. Irvine toured three times in total as a Lion, wining nine Test caps, with further trips to New Zealand in 1977 and South Africa again in 1980.

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A former President of the Scottish Rugby Union, Irvine's first task will be to identify a coach to lead the side to Australia where the Lions suffered a narrow 2-1 series defeat in 2001. He will work in consultation with the Lions committee, now chaired by Gerald Davies, who managed the 2009 tour to South Africa. However, it is understood a decision will not be made until after the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

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"I'm not going to discount any player if we don't have that release, but it will make it tougher for them in terms of their preparations," Robinson said. "You have to remember that this is a team sport. I was involved [with England] in the 2003 World Cup, and I saw what very good training and preparation can do for a team to achieve a special result."

Robinson stressed that he has had no problems ahead of the November Test series and that he was happy with arrangements for the Six Nations as well.

Irvine's appointment ss expected to be confirmed in London on Monday with the Lions Committe also set to announce that HSBC has renewed its sponsorship of the team. Guy Richardson, the former Scotland team manager, has already been appointed as the Lions' director of operations for the 2013 tour.

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Johnson is safe but England axe hangs over his backroom boys

Martin Johnson is bullet proof as England team manager heading into next year's Rugby World Cup but his coaches could pay the price for poor results in the autumn Tests and Six Nations.

Rob Andrew last night made it clear Johnson will be in charge for the tournament in New Zealand, which begins next September, even if England fare badly before then. Patently, the men in the firing line would be coaches Brian Smith, John Wells, Graham Rowntree and Mike Ford.

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Andrew, the Rugby Football Union's director of elite rugby, said: “We have said for the last two years that when Johnno was appointed he would be taking the team through to the 2011 World Cup and we have repeated that Johnno will decide which coaches he wants to take to the World Cup and that team of coaches has been the same since he was appointed.”

Although Johnson has won just nine of his 21 matches in charge he believes a rare 21-20 victory over Australia in Sydney last summer proves his methods and coaching staff are ready for the World Cup challenge.

“We have talked about wanting to ensure we are very competitive and, of course, we have one eye on the World Cup. We have seen in the last year a transition with players coming through and deserving to be there in a very competitive squad. We know we have to regularly play as we did in Sydney to challenge the best teams in the world.

“The team are heading absolutely in the right direction. We've been through some tough times and that is part of the road you travel and we will be stronger for it.

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“We will need to be tough again because there will be defeats between now and the World Cup unless it goes brilliantly well. We need to keep reminding ourselves we can get confidence from good performances and if we do that the results should follow.

“We have seen in the last year or so the transition. This autumn we play the number one-ranked team in the world in New Zealand. You have to play these guys to improve.”

Hopes are rising that England captain Lewis Moody could be fit for the match against the All Blacks on 6 November, having made good progress in his recovery from an eye injury.

He said: “Our agreement with the Premiership clubs is that from the players' last game this season for their teams until the final day of the World Cup we can pick a squad of 50.

“We have asked the French-based players to insist their contracts have exactly the same conditions of release as an England-based player. We have been assured by all the players in the Elite Player Squad that is in place.”

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Toulon set to play hardball with Johnson over Wilkinson

It would be stretching a point to suggest that Jonny Wilkinson's participation in the forthcoming autumn internationals is at risk because of the hardy annual known as the club-versus-country row. Toulon, the increasingly powerful French Top 14 side he joined at the start of last season, have yet to confirm their willingness to meet the demands of the England manager Martin Johnson, who wants uninterrupted access to his Test squad for almost a fortnight before the meeting with New Zealand at Twickenham on 6 November. However, Wilkinson is all but certain to be released for the full build-up, as are two of his fellow exiles – the Stade Français forwards Tom Palmer and James Haskell.

But there are signs of a new militancy on the far side of the Channel that could, if it goes unaddressed, lead to problems during the Six Nations early next year that would make last season's spat between Johnson and the Stade Français owner Max Guazzini, over the availability of Haskell, seem like an expression of entente cordiale.

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Johnson has no grounds under International Board regulations to prevent his players returning to Top 14 rugby during the two fallow weekends of 19-20 February and 5-6 March, and at that point, both the Parisian club and Toulon will be in the thick of the fight for Heineken Cup qualification places.

"We haven't thought that far ahead," said Tom Whitford, the Toulon team manager, yesterday. "But we certainly want Jonny to play in as many of our big games as possible and that will be a very important stage of the season for us." As for the more immediate issue of the autumn Tests, he said: "We'll be seeking clarification from the International Board and the Ligue Nationale de Rugby. We're very enthusiastic about Jonny playing for England, but we need to know exactly where we stand. We want to act in a way that suits both our interests and Jonny's."

Last season, Toulon bent over backwards to accommodate England. This season, they have been slightly less tolerant. In August, they prevented him attending an England summer training camp. Intriguingly, they then left him out of their side.

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Scottish Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. It is the second oldest Rugby Union, being founded in 1873.

Scottish Football Union was founded on Monday 3rd March 1873 at a meeting held at Glasgow Academy, Elmbank Stret, Glasgow. The SFU was a founding member of the International Rugby Board in 1886 with Ireland and Wales.

In 1924 the SFU changed its name to become the Scottish Rugby Union. International games were played at Inverleith from 1899 to 1925 when Murrayfield was opened.

Wales national rugby union team represents Wales in international rugby union tournaments.Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with 25 wins. Wales most recent championship win came in 2008. The International Rugby Board (IRB) regards Wales as a Tier One rugby nation, and ranks them eighth in the world as of 1 February 2010.

Wales play in red jerseys embroidered with the Prince of Wales's feathers. Their current home ground is the Millennium Stadium, completed in 1999 to replace the National Stadium at Cardiff Arms Park. Ten former Welsh players have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame, and two of the ten have been inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame.

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