Jonny Wilkinson's comeback from a dislocated kneecap has been pushed back because the injury reacted badly to training.

The England flyhalf has not played since September and was in contention for Newcastle's Premiership match at Bath on Saturday but swelling to his knee means will not return until the following weekend against Leicester at the earliest.

"We just need to go through the whole process of testing it against everything he might encounter in a game to make sure that he is 100 per cent," Newcastle director of rugby Steve Bates said on Wednesday.

"This week we have upped the intensity a little, and the knee has just swollen up a bit as a result."

Wilkinson has not played in this season's Six Nations, with Andy Goode and, more successfully, Toby Flood stepping in at No.10.

His absence allowed Ireland's Ronan O'Gara to overtake him as the tournament's record scorer.

Newcastle are on a six-game unbeaten run, and with flyhalf Tom May in form there had been suggestions that Wilkinson could return at inside centre.

"That would overlook the fact that we have arguably the in-form centre pairing in the Guinness Premiership with Jamie Noon and Tane Tu'ipulotu," Bates said. "How could you really justify breaking those two up?"

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