Niall can get Quins out of the woods

Second Division Rosslyn Park are hoping Newcastle will do the same with their England outside-half Jonny Wilkinson when the teams clash in their fourth-round tie at Roehampton on Saturday.

But Wilkinson, one of world rugby's great kickers, is expected to play.

Park coach Kent Bray is trying to play down the potential impact of 21-year-old Wilkinson, who won the first of his 20 caps in April 1998, and has since scored 276 points.

Bray said: "What we don't want to do is to fall into the trap of targeting one player and then get hurt somewhere else by someone we don't know so much about.

"Let's face it, we are taking on a team that will be much more physical and dynamic than those we normally play against.

"They are top-quality athletes who are in the gym every day working on their conditioning while all the Rosslyn Park players have jobs in the City from finance to marketing to IT to real estate.

"It is going to be difficult for us in the scrum and line-out, but we will be competitive - there is no doubt about that - and we have to come up with some smart ideas to give us some advantage across the pitch.

"We have three things going for us - we are at home, the crowd will be right behind us and we are the underdogs with nothing to lose."

Bray, a former Harlequin, knows what it is like to face top-grade club opposition, but few of his amateur players have had that experience.

The exception is back-row forward Eben Rollitt, who has joined them from Wasps. "He is a great acquisition," said Bray. "A lot revolves around him."

Meanwhile, All Black star Jeff Wilson has hinted that he may return in next season's Super 12 after retiring from rugby after the end of this year's competition in May.

The 27-year-old, also a New Zealand cricket international, stunned the game by walking away over gay slurs and intrusions into his private life.

NZRFU chief executive David Rutherford said: "Jeff has indicated to us that he is ready to return. He is a natural competitor and I''m sure he will come back an even better player."

Meanwhile, Fran Cotton, chairman of Club England, has denied he is sitting on the fence while others try to bring peace to English rugby.

Tom Walkinshaw, owner of Gloucester, yesterday called for Cotton to distance himself from the Reform Group on the Rugby Football Union that opposes plans to give the First Division clubs their way over promotion and relegation to the Zurich Premiership.

Cotton insists that while his name still features on Reform Group notepaper, he has not been involved with them for more than a year.

He chaired the negotiating team that tried to find a solution to the promotion and relegation questions and backs the Rob Andrew blueprint for the game. This calls for a play-off, not automatic promotion.

He also supports the intervention of a neutral facilitator who will shortly bring the First and Second Division clubs and the RFU together in the same room for the first time to try to find a solution.

Andrew resigned from the Club England committee on Monday over the RFU's delay in implementing his ideas.