Danny Cipriani received the kind of endorsement yesterday that a player far more experienced than he would enjoy. The approval of Martin Johnson, the England team manager, for the effort that Cipriani has made to recover from injury is the boost the young London Wasps fly half needs as he stands on the verge of reigniting his brief international career.

At the same time, Johnson mischievously threw in the possibility that Cipriani, who will be 21 on Sunday, could be considered at full back for the first game of the Investec Challenge Series, against the Pacific Islanders at Twickenham on November 8. Challenged over the diminishing number of full backs available to him, the team manager said Cipriani or Ugo Monye, the Harlequins wing, could occupy the position, or that Josh Lewsey could be recalled from Wasps.

Cipriani's celebrity status has raised eyebrows in the sport, but Johnson, overseeing team preparations at Bagshot, in Surrey, this week, has witnessed only a player of huge promise at work. “I saw the fracture-dislocation of his ankle last May,” Johnson, who omitted Cipriani from his elite player squad in July on the understanding that he would not be fit before Christmas, said. “I was on the phone to him the Monday after and he said he'd be back at this stage or that stage.

“I told him to relax, to get back whenever he was right again. In subsequent conversations he kept telling me he'd be back earlier and earlier, and I was just calming him down. But the guy came back on October 1 and that wasn't luck. Everything he does is aimed at being a good rugby player.

“Do we live in a world of instant celebrity when a guy who's made one start for England gets on the front page of a newspaper? That may be, but here, it's how you hold yourself and how you play rugby, and Danny's trained very well.”

Johnson has left his squad in little doubt of the standards required on and off the field, which Dylan Hartley will have taken to heart. The uncapped Northampton hooker, suspended for six months for gouging last year, was under the microscope for a high tackle last weekend. “He is aware he may have picked up a reputation, but we trust him,” Johnson said. “He's enthusiastic and sometimes that goes over the top. I know what that's about, and it's about self-control.”

Despite the injuries that have hit his players, Johnson is upbeat about the progress made in laying down fundamentals. “But we'll be judged by what we produce on the field,” he said. “Playing for England is great but you have to win - losing isn't much fun.”

Johnson's employers at the RFU are not having much fun with their projected bid for the 2015 World Cup. They hope to persuade the IRB, at next month's council meeting in Dublin, that the economic climate should force the world governing body to review the demand of a guarantee of between £100 million and £120 million from the host country. Previous World Cups have been run on a profit-share basis, but in future the host union will be dependent entirely on ticket receipts and if England believe that they cannot make the bottom line add up, few other countries will be able to do so.

“Under the new requirement, it's unlikely England could make a profit out of hosting the 2015 tournament and we would have to consider whether it would be prudent to risk the game's security in England by bidding,” Francis Baron, the RFU chief executive, said.

Cardiff Blues can seal a place in the semi-finals of the EDF Energy Cup if they avoid defeat at home to Bath this evening. Victory for Bath, who restore Danny Grewcock and Andy Beattie to their pack after injury, would send them through if they stopped Cardiff taking two bonus points.

David Thompson, the chairman of Newcastle Falcons, expects to attract new investors to the club within a month after increasing his shareholding to 99 per cent. At a meeting on Wednesday night, he Thompson was granted control of all but one 23 per cent of the 24 per cent share held by the former Newcastle Gosforth club. Gosforth retain a seat on the board and the right to veto any move by the Falcons to move away from Kingston Park.