Secret England training documents from the Rugby World Cup have been discovered in Ireland's Rugby world Cup team hotel in New Zealand.

England and Ireland were on track to meet each other in the Semi-final but both teams were knocked out of the tournament at the quarter final stage.

The team tactic sheets were discovered in Ireland's team hotel in Wellington which is 300 miles away from England's base in Dunedin according to the Telegraph.

The tactical documents, codes and on-field training drills were found in a conference room at the InterContinental Hotel three days before England lost to France in the quarter-finals.

It is believed that the documents went missing from England officials while they were training in Dunedin.

The nine sheets of A3 sized paper would have meant disaster for England had they met Ireland if the two had progressed to the Semi-finals.

The briefings include one A3-sided sheet entitled "The Big Picture" with one of the bullet points highlighting a focus on discipline as England struggled with giving away penalties in the tournament.

Another sheet carrying the heading "Red Zone" had an astericked "Adapt if required" written at the bottom.

The Telegraph reports that other instructions were on the sheets for the the back row and back three.