Bath Rugby captain Michael Lipman will return from an eight-week lay-off for this weekend's Guinness Premiership clash with Newcastle Falcons – but Jonny Wilkinson will not be making an appearance at The Rec.

Lipman suffered concussion after a clash of heads with team-mate Matt Banahan in the Heineken Cup clash against Toulouse on January 25. But the openside flanker passed five hours of rigorous tests at the weekend and – barring a last-minute setback – will lead his side out on Saturday.

"Michael's infectious behaviour is back with us and I'm looking forward to seeing him back on the park," said Bath head coach Steve Meehan

"The guys who have played in his absence have played hard and done some good things, but you are always going to miss your captain when he is out.

"Defensively he is a very strong player and he's a very good leader – he leads by example.

We'll give him a final check

"You feel his return in the dressing room. He's been brilliant in training so far this week. He's pencilled in on the team sheet. We'll go through the final examinations and away we go."

However, not all the injury updates make happy reading for Meehan.

South African scrum-half Michael Claassens has suffered a hamstring injury in training and will be out for a few weeks.

Claassens' injury keeps the door open for Hereford-born scrum-half Scott Bemand, who has made eight starts for Bath since arriving from Leicester Tigers in the summer.

"I wanted to come here and put down a challenge for Claassy, but unfortunately so far this season my breaks have come when he has picked up injuries, which is unfortunate for him and the team but to my benefit," said 30-year-old Bemand.

"I just hope I've come on and done as well for the boys as Classy would have done."

When he takes to the pitch on Saturday, Bemand will not be greeted by the sight of Jonny Wilkinson wearing the Newcastle number 10 shirt.

The England fly-half has been back in full training for the past fortnight, but Newcastle's director of rugby, Steve Bates, yesterday revealed that a minor setback has delayed Wilkinson's return from a dislocated knee-cap.

"Jonny has been training hard, which he needed to do, but there has been a slight reaction to that which looks like keeping him out of contention for this weekend," said Bates.

"To involve him on Saturday would be hasty, but he's very close.

"This week we have upped the intensity a little, and the knee has just swollen up a bit as a result. I think Jonny recognises that the team is going very well right now, and it's not necessarily going to be a case of saying 'You're fit now, so go straight in to the starting XV'.

"I think on balance we need to reintroduce Jonny safely, and I don't think we're in a position to say go and start for the team straightaway."

After a woeful start to the season, Newcastle have turned their campaign around and won their last six games.

Meehan is not underestimating the danger presented by the Falcons, but believes he has identified weaknesses his side can exploit.

"They've had a run of good results, there's no denying that," said Meehan.

"But having said that we've had a look at their performance against Harlequins and we think there are some opportunities for us providing we execute well and hang on to the ball.

"There's an old saying in sport that the longer you win the closer you are to a loss. If we concentrate and deliver the performance we know we are capable of we will win the game."