Unlike Danny Phantom, the cartoon character, Danny Cipriani is not yet ready to save the world - it just feels as though he is. After the composed, comfortable manner in which he guided England to last Saturday's win over Ireland, Cipriani is now required to proffer views on the global expansion of rugby and even the potential arrival of Martin Johnson within England's management group.

The point about the London Wasps fly half, who appeared in Westminster yesterday to promote the first Rugby Expo, planned for November, is that he is bright enough to know that his rapidly rising profile will take him to realms of which, at 20, he has little or no experience. Hence Cipriani on Johnson: “I met him once, very briefly, everyone talks about him as a great leader.

“If he chose to take a management role, England could benefit. But Brian Ashton, John Wells and Mike Ford [the present coaching panel] have been very positive for England. Everything went smoothly on Saturday because they had put their marker down and we backed them 100 per cent. All the players are behind Brian, he has done well for England.”

Cipriani names Ashton as one of the “strong-minded” people - alongside Ian McGeechan and Shaun Edwards at Wasps and his sprint coach, Margot Wells - who will keep him on the right track and remind him that whatever influence he has off the pitch will depend on his performances on it. “The last 48 hours have been pretty busy, exciting times, good times, but I have to leave it in the past now and move on,” Cipriani said.

His enthusiasm for the game's development has linked him to Rugby Expo, to be staged in London on November 17-18 and designed to build bridges between rugby and business, with the aim of nurturing young talent and helping the emerging rugby nations. Cipriani already supports Touraid, which has helped those countries with limited resources and under whose auspices he hopes to bring a group of children from Trinidad & Tobago, his father's home, to London.

“I'm quite passionate about promoting rugby, I would love to do that in any way I can,” he said. “But I have to find a balance, because as soon as you lose sight of your main focus, playing rugby, that's when you go downhill. Jonny Wilkinson has done it massively, he has singlehandedly changed the face of rugby. I don't know if I can do single-handedly what Jonny has done.

“Saturday was phenomenal, one of the best moments of my life, but I can't get too carried away with it. I hope to make the squad for the summer tour to New Zealand. You have to test yourself more and more, but I have to play well for Wasps [who meet Leicester in the EDF Energy Cup semi-finals on Saturday] to keep getting selected.”