All eyes on Wilko's injury

Familiar sight: Wilkinson injured... again!

Newcastle Falcons have revealed that Jonny Wilkinson has sustained a dislocated left knee - yet another nasty injury to add to a catalogue of misfortune stretching back nearly five years.

Wilkinson was forced off the field 25 minutes into Newcastle's Guinness Premiership defeat at Gloucester last night and now looks set to miss England's November Tests.

"It is obviously disappointing for Jonny to receive an injury just when he was back playing fantastic rugby, but he has enormous strength of character and I am sure he will come back stronger despite this blow," said Newcastle director of rugby Steve Bates.

England launch their November series against the Pacific Islanders at Twickenham on November 8 - followed by appointments with Tri-Nations contingent Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

Wilkinson's latest setback, in a career blighted by repeated injury problems since his drop-goal won England the 2003 World Cup, comes as Test fly-half rival Danny Cipriani prepares to make a return from ankle damage against Bath on Wednesday.

"Jonny is a great competitor. He didn't want to come off. We hope it might not be as serious as it looked when he came off," continued Bates.

Wilkinson was set to be rested for Newcastle's EDF Energy Cup clash against Newport Gwent Dragons on Friday - but instead of taking a break, he now awaits depressingly-familiar medical assessment.

It was only Wilkinson's fourth game of the season after undergoing summer shoulder surgery that meant he was absent for England's two-Test New Zealand tour.

On the field, Newcastle battled bravely without their talisman as Gloucester struggled to impose themselves on the contest until a late scoring flurry.

The Falcons were ultimately undone by Gloucester wing Iain Balshaw's hat-trick of tries and a James Simpson-Daniel double, while fly-half Olly Barkley - an England autumn Test contender - booted four penalties, and Willie Walker slotted a late conversion.

Hooker Matt Thompson's opportunist 47th-minute touchdown from a line-out and centre Tom May's breakaway score briefly cut the Gloucester advantage to just three points.

The Falcons finally wilted when Balshaw completed his hat-trick 13 minutes from time, although Newcastle still had enough about them to register a third try when captain Phil Dowson went over.

"Some parts of our performance were good, but other bits were absolutely dreadful. We made some naive errors," added Bates.

"We didn't look after the ball well enough, and some of our defensive errors we will have to look closely at.

"If we had done the right thing at the right time, we could have probably made it a lot closer."

Gloucester boss Dean Ryan saw his team move third in the Premiership standings following Tuesday's win.

"We should have scored twice early on, and if that had happened we could have had a lot of superiority," he said.

"It has been a pretty tough start to the season for us - we've had Leicester, Bath, Harlequins, Sale and Newcastle, and won three of those games.

"We haven't played that well - but we will be content with what we've got."

Wilkinson's Injury File:

2002: May - Suffers ankle ligament damage in Newcastle's defeat by Gloucester, ruling him out for the rest of the season.

2003: December 13 - Newcastle confirm Wilkinson has fractured a facet in his shoulder - known as a 'stinger'. Falcons predict an absence of two to three weeks.

December 28 - Suffers a recurrence of his shoulder injury and has to come off during Newcastle's win over Northampton.

2004: February - Ruled out of Six Nations after shoulder operation.

October - Ruled out for up to six weeks with a haematoma in the upper right arm and has to stand down as England captain for autumn Tests.

2005: January - Suffers knee ligament damage in Newcastle's Heineken Cup defeat in Perpignan.

March - Suffers medial ligament damage on Newcastle comeback against Harlequins.

July - Suffers shoulder injury in British and Irish Lions' second Test defeat in New Zealand and misses third match.

September - Ruled out of early season action after undergoing an appendix operation.

November - Has a major operation for related groin problems.

2006: January - Suffers a torn adductor muscle.

September - Forced off with a knee ligament injury during Newcastle's home game against Worcester, effectively ending his hopes of playing in the autumn Tests.

November - Makes comeback for Newcastle against Bristol but suffers kidney damage and requires one month's rest.

2007: September - Suffers fresh injury blow as a twisted ankle in training rules him out of England World Cup opener against USA.

2008: May - Undergoes shoulder surgery which keeps him out of England's summer tour of New Zealand.

September 30 - Suffers dislocated knee during Newcastle's Guinness Premiership defeat at Gloucester.