The approach may seem far-fetched. But the Lions believe their line-out codes were cracked in 2001 – lock Justin Harrison’s third-Test steal saved the series for Australia – and this summer, South Africa were the subject of claims that they had filmed the Wallabies’ captain’s run before their first Tri-Nations meeting.

England boss Clive Woodward today insisted the precautions were no more than any major company would take before sensitive business meetings.

“We could lose a World Cup if we don’t pay attention to these things,” he said.

“We have this little device. It is no bigger than a matchbox – and Tony Biscombe, who is our IT man, goes round the hotel rooms and the team rooms and makes sure there are no devices.

“Sometimes people don’t understand the huge stakes that we are playing for. We don’t want to take any chances – and we don’t. It is just common sense; we have done it for a couple of years now – it is our standard way of operating.”

Woodward does not believe World Cup final opponents Australia would resort to underhand tactics to gain an advantage.

“I don’t think that’s the way they operate,” he said.

“It will be our normal precautions, which are very professional and thorough.

“A lot of it is common sense. We won’t be training with every man and his dog walking past at line-out practices, which is what the Lions did (in Australia) two years ago. It wasn’t the brightest thing.

“We’re just being professional. It’s like any business meeting – you open any business meeting by making sure the room is secure. I’m sure nothing will happen.

“You can do so much, but the bottom line is that if another team is hell-bent on watching your training session there’s not a lot you can do. But you have still got to be smarter than the average bear.”

That is not to say England will be on public display a great deal this week, with only light training planned. Thursday and Friday are both likely to be days off for the players, before Saturday’s showdown.

England will also maintain a watchful eye on regular match-winner Jonny Wilkinson.

The Newcastle superstar is in huge demand from an adoring public, and England know they must keep such well-intentioned fervour in check.

“At Twickenham, he [Wilkinson] has to be escorted to the coach,” said Woodward.

“It’s not just in Australia. The guy is a sought-after person, and we kind of look after him when we know there are a lot of people around.

“It is not just the World Cup; it happens in England when we play at Twickenham. It’s nothing new for the World Cup, no big drama.

“He’s a high-profile sports personality playing in a big tournament. Things you have got to be careful about are people going up to him with 20 shirts to be signed.

“It can get a little bit tense at times, so we’ve just got to look after him and make sure a couple of people who are on the trip with us are always around him.”

Woodward plans to unveil his starting line-up on Wednesday, and then it is all systems go for an assault on prising the World Cup away from holders Australia.

“The World Cup is extremely important to everyone, but especially the players. They get one shot at this, and as I keep saying this group of players is the most talented England have ever had,” added Woodward.

“After the French game on Sunday, there was no elation; it was a job well done. The players have come to win this thing – not come second, third or fourth - and the elation will either be there on Saturday, or not.

“The hard core of this group and I have been together six years now. We’ve been through some fantastic times and we’ve also learnt some bitter experiences through defeats.

“But we’ve moved on. I just think there came a stage a couple of years ago, where all the learning had kind of been done, and we are where we are now.

“It comes back to Martin Johnson, who I think is the world’s best captain by a long way. He is just fantastic, the way he operates on and off the field.”

England have won 21 of the last 22 Tests, while their recent record against Australia shows four successive victories – albeit three of those came at Twickenham and only one Down Under.

England unquestionably have what it takes to win the Rugby World Cup, and everyone connected with them knows they might not get a better chance than the one ahead of them this week.