Stevens steers clear of Lions pain

Matt Stevens escaped the pain of not being part of Tuesday's British and Irish Lions squad announcement by flying to Italy to research coffee beans for his new cafe.

Stevens is opening a coffee shop in Bath called Jika-Jika with England hooker Lee Mears, who did make the Lions cut after an impressive RBS 6 Nations campaign.

Mears, who received a phone-call of congratulation from Stevens and backed his friend and business partner to return to Lions colours on the 2013 tour of Australia, said: "Matt went on the last Lions trip and he would have loved to have been involved. He is trying to stay out of the way and not think about it too much and set himself some other challenges."

Stevens was a Lion in 2005 and would have been a strong favourite to be included in the 37-man squad for this summer's assault on world champions South Africa, the land of his birth.

But the gifted England prop was never in contention for a place in Ian McGeechan's plans after being banned for two years in February for taking cocaine.

While the likes of Tom Croft, Delon Armitage and England captain Steve Borthwick discovered they had missed out on selection by watching the announcement on television, Stevens already knew his fate.

"He has just been out in Italy researching coffee for our place and I think he missed the announcement, which helped a bit. He is back this week and working hard on Jika-Jika," added Mears.

"He rang and said 'well done' and the usual congratulations.

"I think he has come to terms with it now. He is still young. He will be back when he is 28 and he is good enough to make the next squad."