RUGBY players may soon have to put their macho tendencies to one side for the sake of their careers, according to Newcastle Falcons' conditioning coach Steve Black.

Ahead of the biggest game in the Falcons' history, the Heineken Cup quarter-final with Stade Francais on Saturday, Black bemoaned the number of injuries that has bedevilled the North-East side this season.

Those that have captured most of the headlines have beset talismanic fly-half Jonny Wilkinson.

Question marks surround the availability of England's World Cup hero for the clash in Paris after he suffered the recurrence of an old knee injury recently. But that is just the latest in a succession of setbacks Wilkinson has suffered since that famous day in Sydney. He has also been subjected to shoulder and neck problems and hampered by a bicep injury.

However, Wilkinson is just one of the men director of rugby, Rob Andrew, has had to point in the direction of the physio's room.

Never mind during the early part of the season, just in recent weeks the Falcons injury list has contained the names of Matt Burke (knee), Andy Buist (knee), Colin Charvis (foot), Craig Hamilton (shoulder), Stuart Mackie (pectoral) Joe Shaw (ankle), Semo Sititi (jaw), Mathew Tait (eye and hamstring), Epi Taione (arm), Matt Thompson (mumps), Ed Williamson (shoulder), David Wilson (mumps), Ben Woods (leg) and Ollie Phillips (broken leg).

Black believes this catalogue of crocked players needs to be given some serious thought in the coming months if it is not repeated time and time again.

"We have been going professional for nine years and we have always had the best record in the country with regards to soft tissue (injuries)," he said. "You look at all the injuries we have had this year and they are all bones and big trauma injuries, they are not pulls or anything like that."

Black believes the way players have evolved in recent years is directly to blame for their increased susceptibility to injuries.

"Because the lads are becoming ever more powerful and fitter, the collisions ever more violent, the trauma injuries are going to get more serious," he said. "I think the time has come for us to look at some type of protective gear. Maybe not as restrictive as that used in American football, but we have got to sort of go that way."

To illustrate his point, Black used the example of Mathew Tait, the Falcons' teenage centre who was elevated to the international stage with England during the recent Six Nations match with Wales.

"At 19 years of age he is stronger, not per pound, stronger absolute than anyone who was in our league winning team (of 1997/98). That includes Richard Arnold, Dean Ryan and Nick Popplewell," he said.

"What I am saying is when you get people who are fast and big and strong and courageous and they collide something has to give."

* British & Irish Lions legend Ieuan Evans has called for an end to the hysteria surrounding Jonny Wilkinson's fitness.

Wilkinson, 25, has not played international rugby since the 2003 World Cup final after being struck down by a succession of different injuries and he is currently recovering from damaged knee ligaments.

Lions coach Sir Clive Woodward names the 44-man squad on April 11 and must decide whether to risk naming Wilkinson for the summer tour to New Zealand.

But Evans yesterday insisted the fly-half's availability will neither make nor break the Lions' chances against the All Blacks this summer.

''I don't think we need to get too hung up on Jonny Wilkinson,'' said Evans. ''The success of this tour won't purely hinge on whether Jonny Wilkinson is available or not. There are too many quality players out there for that to be the case.

''If he is fit then there is no reason not to take him. But in making the selection you can always say that if you can't prove your fitness then that will have a bearing on whether you can go or not.

''Everyone will have that next to their name.

"If you get injured between now and the departure then you have got the ability to be dragged out of the tour.''