England's former fly-half and World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson has insisted that rugby union isn't getting more dangerous, despite England's lengthy injury list.

The 35-year-old, who retired at the end of last season, made the claim as Stuart Lancaster is currently without Tom Johnson, Alex Corbisiero, Mako Vunipola, Dan Cole, Tom Youngs and Geoff Parling for the Autumn Internationals.

"I don't necessarily believe there is a great deal more injury going on now since professionalism really kicked in during the late 1990s," Wilkinson told reporters.

"It happens. Most of it is contact injuries which can't be avoided. The ones you avoid are the ones where you have got to say, 'We can't accept this'. You can't have guys missing seasons because they aren't being looked after properly, pulling muscles in training and those sort of things.

"There is that, but you can't change the fact that guys are going to get bigger. The problem is not so much they are getting bigger, it's that the bigger ones can run faster. That is the issue, because that is what creates the power."

England face New Zealand at Twickenham on November 8.