The return from holiday of Martin Johnson this weekend will, in the present climate, be something akin to Moses coming down from the mountain with tablets of stone. Whether the former England captain will emerge with anything resembling English rugby’s Ten Commandments remains in the balance.

For all the assumptions made about Johnson’s future involvement with the management of England, that he would be given the power to hire and fire and mould his own coaching team, neither he nor Rob Andrew, the RFU’s director of elite rugby, has uttered a word in public on the subject. Yet Johnson knows that the game needs a “yea” or “nay” from him as soon as possible, to avoid the relentless speculation that is damaging to the game and to the individuals most intimately involved, notably Brian Ashton, the head coach.

Johnson has not been out of the country and will be aware of how intense the interest has been in his potential involvement. He may be anxious to avoid any pronouncements next Tuesday — April Fool’s Day — but for Johnson it will be a question of degree: involvement in the new professional game board, to which he has agreed, would mean attending perhaps six meetings a year and bringing his rugby intellect to bear on the issues of the elite game.

That is an honorary position; that of England team manager would be a highly paid, highly public role that would leave Andrew free to return to such significant departmental matters as the next generation of coaches, referees and medical procedures, all of which have an impact on England’s future at every representative level.

Whatever the upshot, the RFU was urged yesterday by Steve Bates, who coached England Saxons successfully in their two internationals this year, not to make change until after the June tour to New Zealand. Bates, Newcastle Falcons’ acting director of rugby, also emphasised that an all-powerful England manager would be incompatible with the coaching stucture as it stands.

“The RFU need to decide whether they want a team manager and a coach who he controls, or a team manager with a coach who controls things, which is completely different,” the former scrum half said. “You have to have people in these positions who want to do those two roles. If I was doing a job as coach with Martin Johnson in control, that would alter my job massively.

“If I was coach of England, I would want complete control of who I select and how we play. I might want Martin telling me what he thought about the build-up, the psychological strength of our team or the preparation in terms of mental readiness, but I wouldn’t be going to Martin Johnson to say, ‘How do you think we should play?’ ”

Bates urged continuity before the two June internationals in New Zealand. “A new coaching team would have no time with the players before they go to New Zealand, so it makes no sense to change at this point,” he said. “The time to do it is in the summer, when the new agreement with the RFU comes into force.”

Another former England captain, Lawrence Dallaglio, will miss tomorrow’s Guinness Premiership game between his club, London Wasps, and Leicester after being suspended for a week. Wasps decided to take action after Dallaglio was cited for striking Julian White, the Leicester prop, during the EDF Energy Cup semi-final in Cardiff last week.

He must appear before an RFU disciplinary hearing next Tuesday, but Wasps hope that their own action, together with Dallaglio’s apology and previous unblemished record, will be enough. Another Wasps player, Joe Ward, has been suspended for a week by an RFU panel along with David Paice, the London Irish hooker, after incidents in their game on March 16.

Steve Meehan rewarded his players with a couple of days off after Bath overtook Gloucester at the head of the Guinness Premiership last weekend. This evening they go to Stockport to play Sale Sharks, themselves play-off contenders. Bath field a strong pack against a Sale unit missing Andrew Sheridan. The England prop damaged an elbow in training but should be fit for next weekend.