England coach Sir Clive Woodward has already decided who will fill the boots of Jonny Wilkinson - but will wait for the weekend's medical bulletins before unveiling the identity of his fly-half.

Wilkinson has been ruled out of the RBS 6 Nations opener against Italy on February 15 with an ongoing neck/shoulder injury, while first-choice replacement Charlie Hodgson is also unavailable due to his knee problem.

Their absences leave Paul Grayson, Alex King, Mike Catt and Olly Barkley to compete for the converted number ten jersey, but with a full round of Zurich Premiership matches scheduled for this weekend, the options could be further reduced.

All four players will be in action for their clubs tomorrow and Saturday and while Woodward insists it is too late for any of the quartet to alter his selectorial thinking, further injury news could prove decisive.

''There has been no great improvement in Jonny since yesterday, so he won't be playing next weekend,'' said Woodward.

''I was 99 per cent sure of that yesterday and today I'm 99.9 per cent sure.

''I already know who I want to replace him - I just have to see what happens this weekend on the injury front.

''No-one is playing for their place, I just want to make sure the guy I have in mind comes through.

''I want to see how everyone comes through this weekend - there's no point in saying who is going to play until I see everyone negotiate this weekend unscathed.

''We're pretty spoilt for choice at fly-half at the moment. It's not about chucking someone in to give them experience, we want to win the tournament and to do that we have to win the first game against Italy. It's as simple as that.

Rookie Bath fly-half Barkley could force his way into the reckoning after enjoying a superb season for the Premiership leaders, and Woodward yesterday voiced his admiration for the promising 22-year-old.

''I think a lot of Olly - I used him against America a couple of years ago. He's made a lot of progress and is clearly playing well. Bath have had a tremendous season and he's been one of their outstanding players,'' added Woodward.

''We always knew he was there but he just needed time to mature a bit, much like Jonny Wilkinson has done.

''He's been at the training camp over the last couple of days and knows fly-half is a very competitive position when everyone is fit.''

There may be a number of capable deputies available to Woodward but Wilkinson is the undisputed number one and he will want his goalkicking ace to have made a full recovery in time for the potential Grand Slam decider against France on March 27.

However, Les Bleus coach Bernard Laporte also has problems following the international retirement of Fabien Galthie and Raphael Ibanez.

''We're in a rebuilding stage. Fabien and Raphael were very big players for us, they were very important,'' he said.