For five seasons in a row, from 1998 to 2002, Stimpson was a champion of England, once with Newcastle Falcons in 1998 and four times with Leicester, with whom he twice won the Heineken Cup. It is a unique achievement and gives him some perspective on his predicament with Leeds Tykes. Come April, Stimpson has usually been getting ready to dine at the highest table; come this April he is dining at the lowest.

“It’s been an enlightening experience,” Stimpson said. “The pressure isn’t about dreams of trophies, even European qualification, your dreams are about holding a job. There is that responsibility for guys with families and mortgages and you realise that this is a profession.

“Up until this point in my career I’ve been able to pick and choose exactly where I play — ‘I’ll play for them because they might win the Heineken Cup’ — at Leicester and the same at Perpignan. With Leeds we’ve got the squad to be competing in the Heineken Cup next year, no question. Unfortunately, we find ourselves here because we haven’t produced.”

He still may drink some champagne if he can force his way back from injury and into the Leeds side to face Bath in the Powergen Cup final a week today. Iain Balshaw stands in his place for the Premiership match against Gloucester today. Stimpson was back last Saturday, after a month out with a shoulder injury, and found himself at Worcester in the European Shield. It is two levels below the Heineken Cup and a world away from the roars at Parc des Princes after he slotted the touchline conversion that took Leicester four points clear of Stade Français in the 2001 Heineken Cup final.

But that is a sideshow to the spectre of relegation that will be haunting Leeds even when they take to the turf at Twickenham. Even if they win, they will not qualify for the Heineken Cup if they are relegated. For Stimpson, 31, it is a long way from Leicester T-Shirts reading “Can he kick it?” after his 60-yard kick hit the crossbar, bounced over and beat Llanelli in the 2002 Heineken Cup semi-finals.

Stimpson, who joined Leeds in the summer after a brief spell at Perpignan, says that the sinking feeling hit the players only in February. “People all of a sudden realised, ‘hang on, Leeds are too good to go down’, but we’d lost a few too many games and all of a sudden we find ourselves in a five-way play-off,” he said. “It’s sink or swim time, not as a club, but for some of those individual players, thinking, ‘If I don’t perform, where’s my mortgage coming from?’ ”

Stimpson has invested much of his money in property so now he has a problem. “When you go to the bank manager and say you’ve got a two-year contract with Leeds and then you get relegated, how are you supposed to get a mortgage?” he said. “So yes, I’m hoping we stay up. Leeds thankfully have said we’re going to be in existence next year so that’s taken a load of pressure off the boys.”

But there is a degree of scepticism. “If you look at the commercial side of professional rugby, the yo-yo effect is the best model the club can have because of parachute payments,” Stimpson said. “You can lay off half your playing staff and still get promoted the next year, but as far as players are concerned you could be out of the door.”