The sport in the expatriate community is relatively healthy, with women’s and junior sections springing up over the past year at clubs such as Beijing Devils, but it is the involvement of the Chinese community that is important. This is the area that the Leicester delegation, which includes Johnson and Underwood, is seeking to address on their week-long mission.

”China is a market for the long-haul game, not the instant gratification of, say, the US market,” Sir Digby Jones said. The Director-General of the CBI flies home on Wednesday to begin the last week of his seven years in office, convinced that Leicester (of whom he is a non-executive director) can make a direct contribution to the growth of rugby if they are prepared to plug away.

It will not be enough to sign, as they did on Monday, a strategic partnership with the China Rugby Football Association (CRFA), they must ensure exchange on a regular basis. The China national sevens squad visit England in August as part of a training schedule for the World Student Games in December and will be hosted by Leicester during their stay, but Jones is convinced that Leicester must tell China that “we are here for you at Welford Road, but we can also be there for you in Beijing”.

When he arrived at the CBI, Jones found an organisation he believed to be losing its influence because it was content to be no more than a domestic lobbyist. Now it has offices from Beijing to Washington and its ebullient Director-General, never one to let hyperbole stand in his way, compares Leicester to Manchester United as an exportable brand, helped hugely by their success in European competition in 2001 and 2002. At the same time, in his address to the CRFA, Jones emphasised the “life” values that Leicester represent, qualities that are hugely appealing to the Chinese.

It is not only Leicester’s work as a community club, nor their ability to function successfully without the need for a sugar daddy; it is the strong sponsorship for tag rugby, the non-contact game embraced so fondly on a humid afternoon by more more than 100 youngsters aged between seven and 12 yesterday, under the direction of the two former internationals; the work they do in special schools at home and the promotion of healthy living. Where Leicester are now going, Jones believes, other Guinness Premiership clubs can follow (particularly in a country where Guinness supports both Beijing Devils and, in Shanghai, Hairy Crabs).

”If we could position Leicester, in ten or 15 years’ time, where Manchester United are now, that would be fabulous, but there are enormous social benefits for the young,” Jones said. “Martin and Rory are here giving something back to the game and the club that they love but if you are me or Peter [Wheeler, the Leicester chief executive] it’s a bigger picture, taking the brand overseas in a socially-inclusive way.

”Leicester have a great sponsorship following already, but it’s my job to get more corporations on board who don’t know Leicester. Extrapolate that into this adventure: take five companies, BP, Vodafone, Rolls Royce, Airbus and JCB, for example. They have nothing to do with Leicester, but they all have a big presence in China and its amazing economy.

”Get this right and it becomes an overseas earner on its own just as it has for several of football’s Premiership clubs. We are here for our own needs and to help the community, but we are also here on behalf of the other Guinness Premiership clubs. If we compare ourselves to Manchester United, others can be Arsenal or Chelsea or Liverpool.

”When I was here last April, some people warned me not to get too carried away, that Martin Johnson wasn’t David Beckham and Leicester are not Man U. But I don’t know any other way than forward and up and I have been amazed at the response we have found here.”