Whether or not it was written into his contract as head coach of Leicester Tigers, Heyneke Meyer is quickly learning that part of his job is to restrain the force of nature that is Lewis Moody. After undergoing operations to his hip and achilles tendon during the summer, Moody is not due to return for another three weeks, which is likely to rule him out of the autumn internationals, but he is already making his presence felt in training.

“He feels as though he’s almost ready to go, but I’m going to have to hold him back,” Meyer said yesterday. “He’s training really well. He’s injuring most of the other players now. He’s got stuck into a few guys, in fact, I think he’s got stuck into every single guy he’s trained with.”

Moody, the flanker, who is in England’s Elite squad of 32 players, travelled to Sweden for his operations, as Leicester increasingly look overseas for the best medical attention. Louis Deacon, the England Saxons lock, is due to travel to Munich as he continues his recovery from an operation to a disc in his back. “Wherever the best specialists are, we’ll try to get the best possible help for our players,” Meyer said.

It must be tempting for Meyer to hasten Moody’s return as Leicester have something of an injury crisis at open-side flanker. Ben Woods, who was signed in the summer from Newcastle Falcons, injured his knee in the Heineken Cup victory over Ospreys on Sunday. Leicester were awaiting the results of a scan on Woods’s knee last night, but Meyer feared ligament damage.

“It doesn’t look good and he’ll probably be out for some time,” Meyer said. “We’ve got a few opensides gone now. It’s going to be tough.”

As Ben Herring is also out with a hamstring injury, Tom Croft may switch to No7 from the blindside for the Pool Three game away to Treviso on Saturday.