Hodgson out for England

The last time anyone saw Charlie Hodgson on a rugby pitch, the quicksilver outside-half kicked 16 points for Sale in a decisive Premiership victory over London Irish at Heywood Road. Any lingering notion that he might do something similar for England against one of the three élite southern hemisphere teams currently making their way across the equator finally evaporated yesterday when Hodgson acknowledged that his injured knee was unlikely to heal itself and booked himself an operation.

Clive Woodward's second-favourite stand-off will undergo surgery later this week and has no chance of participating in the Twickenham Tests against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. If this is a setback for Hodgson, it is also a matter of considerable annoyance for the England hierarchy, who must now review both their goal-kicking options and their cover for Jonny Wilkinson, the single most influential player in the team.

If the first issue is fairly easy to resolve – both Tim Stimpson of Leicester and Matthew Dawson of Northampton have taken aim at the sticks in showpiece internationals and even bisected the posts on occasion – the second problem is a beast. Specialist stand-offs in half-decent form are rarer than hen's teeth in England right now: Austin Healey is struggling with groin and Achilles problems; Henry Paul has spent the Premiership campaign deep in the long grass at full-back; Mike Catt's display for Bath last weekend was less than thrilling. Suddenly, Woodward is short of a dependable game-shaper to bring off the bench.

England will also be without Joe Worsley, the energetic loose forward from Wasps, over the next three weeks. Worsley, who hobbled out of Adams Park after damaging a hamstring during the highly physical set-to with Gloucester five days ago, is not expected to reappear for a month. Lawrence Dallaglio, a virtual certainty for the No 8 berth against New Zealand on Saturday week, has already been told he will play on the blind-side flank against Leicester this weekend. By way of rubbing it in, he has also been lumbered with a one-match ban for paying three visits to the sin-bin. He is unavailable for Wasps' visit to Leeds on 1 December.

One of Dallaglio's fellow Lions in both 1997 and 2001, the record-breaking Wales stand-off Neil Jenkins, is very much available for any rugby that might be going. Old Ginger Nut has been recalled to Test colours for tomorrow night's meeting with Romania at Wrexham: his 87th cap and his first since April of last year. He provides some much-needed know-how in a side boasting two new caps – the Pontypridd centre Sonny Parker and his 21-year-old front-row clubmate Gethin Jenkins – plus three players who have not previously started an international: the Llanelli prop Martyn Madden and two Ponty tight forwards, Mefin Davies and Robert Sidoli.

France, awash with talent as usual, have decided they can do without the immediate services of Frederic Michalak, the brilliant utility back from Toulouse, and Olivier Azam, the Gloucester hooker. The Biarritz scrum-half, Dimitri Yachvili, and Agen's Jean-Baptiste Rue are the new faces in Bernard Laporte's squad for the autumn Tests, along with the spectacular Toulouse wing Vincent Clerc, who replaces the injured Aurélien Rougerie in a squad led by Fabien Galthié.

Scotland, meanwhile, have included two backs from the second flight of the English league, Worcester's Ben Hinshelwood and Orrell's Andy Craig, in their 22 for next weekend's Test against the busy Romanians. The Glasgow full-back, Stuart Moffat, and the Borders prop, Bruce Douglas, also feature in a party shorn of Duncan Hodge, James McLaren, George Graham and Gordon Simpson, among other familiar figures.