Jake White, the South African coach, spent the weekend swapping pointers with England's World Cup-winning coach and hailed the talk as "unbelievable."

White explained to the South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper that a meeting of minds was beneficial given that the Boks are more or less where England were three years before they won the World Cup - out of the top three.

He said: "Clive is prepared to help us and obviously with his new job I can also help him a bit.

"I've learned so much, it's been unbelievable."

Woodward's presentation, which focused on changing mindsets, was also attended by national captain John Smit.

"We aren't talking about players' strong and weak points or that sort of thing," added White.

"It was a powerful presentation and Clive put a lot of effort in. It's fair to say he pretty much blew us away."

Also at the was former SA hockey player Sherylle Calder, a renowned sports-vision expert who has left the England team to sign up and assist the Boks.

She too praised Woodward's speech: "This is all about keeping a step ahead, getting an edge and keeping the coaching stimulated."