Directing nature of the -SOR substituent in electrophilic aromatic substitution

This is (alkanesulfinyl)benzene:


[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/zYr0f.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/zYr0f.png)


I didn't draw it, but we know that the sulphur atom also has a lone pair. So, the sulphur atom can *increase* electron density in the ring by donating a lone pair. However, oxygen can also *withdraw* electron density from the ring by pulling back an electron pair. They both are contradictory, so which effect dominates? What is the final directing effect of the alkanesulfinyl group?


That said, I am not entirely sure if what I said above is 100% correct. The reason being that since the sulphur atom is sp3 hybridized, it is *tetrahedral* in shape, and not *planar*. So, either the sulphur's lone pair or the oxygen's pi bond will be out of the plane (but not both at once), and won't take part in any delocalisation. But we can't theoretically predict which one it would be, can we?


If there could be experimental evidence to support the claim whether it is *meta*-directing or *o/p*-directing, that would be even more beneficial. I have checked both Wikipedia and masterorganicchemistry, and neither even mentions this functional group, let alone its directional nature.


