Sir Clive Woodward once put forward the idea that the only way to tour New Zealand was to base yourself in Australia or Fiji, fly in for the games and get the hell out of there immediately afterwards.

Bonkers, Insulting, cowardly? Yes, possibly. However, we have learned that Sir Clive's idea may actually have been given serious thought in the planning of England's current tour to the Land of the Long White Cloud. In fact, less than a month ago, the RFU was set to jettison its hotel bookings in New Zealand in favour of a squad billet in Sydney.

Rob Andrew's men would then have flown in for the designated test matches, stayed long enough afterwards for the most basic of post-match activities and then flown back to Sydney on a specially scheduled flight that same evening.

The plan was only sidelined when England's new coach, Martin Johnson, was appointed. Johnson, ever mindful of his association with New Zealand both as an under-21 player and having extended family courtesy of his wife, immediately vetoed the decision.

Nevertheless, documents passed to us by sources close to the RFU's international committee, show that this current tour was set to be an experiment for England's campaign at the Twenty11 Rugby World Cup also being held in New Zealand.

The same source admitted that the decision to base the squad in Sydney had only been considered after extensive consultation with the RFU's Elite Performance Director, Rob Andrew.

"Basically Rob was all for it," claimed the source. "He could see no benefit whatsoever for basing the team in New Zealand. He knew there would be a constant media barrage as soon as the team touched down, with no let up in sight, so he jumped at the chance to be there as little as possible".

Serious consideration was also given to boycotting post-match interviews and press conferences which would have effectively starved the New Zealand media of comment from the England camp.

"Rob's opinion was that they will say and write what they want anyway, so there was no need for him to be there at all. Plus, the choice of hotels in Sydney was  vastly superior anyway," added the source.

Ultimately, Johnson's intervention saw the plan shelved - but not forgotten. The RFU grandees remain hopeful that the idea will  be resurrected in advance of Twenty11.

And it seems other Northern Hemisphere sides are interested in the idea too with the likes of France, Ireland and Wales all considering basing themselves in Australia for the Twenty11 Rugby World Cup in an attempt to create their own home from home outside of New Zealand.