WORCESTER Warriors be warned -- Newcastle will start the English domestic season next month with their strongest squad since rugby union's professional era began.
That is Falcons boss Rob Andrew's assessment as Newcastle prepare to welcome back England World Cup star Jonny Wilkinson from long-term injury as well as greeting high-profile new signings Colin Charvis, Matt Burke and Semo Sititi.
"We just felt that we lacked a little bit of experience and we have tried to rectify that," he said.
"I feel this is the best group of players we have had at the club," added Andrew, who hinted that fly-half Wilkinson will make his comeback in next Tuesday's pre-season friendly against Connacht in Galway.
Wilkinson, England's record international points scorer, has not played since December 28 last year when he suffered a so-called 'stinger' injury to his neck.
It also affected his shoulder and arm, and he underwent surgery two months later to rectify what had become a career-threatening situation.
"The whole time, I have had such help from the club, family, friends and team-mates," said Wilkinson.
"I have pretty much trained from two days after the operation through to when I went away for a week in the summer, and then picked up immediately when I came back.
"I have had goals in mind. I had things that I wanted to achieve by the end of the summer, so I was getting on with them and kept maybe the possibility of things taking longer than I thought deep in the background.
"It is a relatively fresh start for me. I have been out for a long time, and I am going to have to find my way around from game one.
"I am starting off with a fairly blank sheet of paper and I am just going to go out there and try and put into practice what I have been training on and see where it takes us," he added.
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