Stuart Lancaster standing© Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Former England coach Stuart Lancaster has been in Cape Town this week to pass on his expertise to the Stormers but it will not become a formal arrangement.

Lancaster left the England post in November following a disastrous World Cup where the hosts failed to get out of their fiercely difficult pool. He has since been linked with the Japan role, but those discussions did not lead to any appointment.

With four years' worth of experience coaching at Test level to his name, Lancaster's knowledge of the game and high performance systems will be in high demand and he has spent a couple of days with the Stormers to brief their coaches and also oversee a training session.

"Stuart's been on a tour, and has visited various other teams in other parts of the world," Stormers' director of rugby Gert Smal confirmed to SA Rugby Mag. "So when the opportunity arose for him to come and spend a bit of time here, it was something we were very keen to do.

"He's obviously got a lot of experience, and plenty of expertise to share. He's just been at the World Cup with England, and sometimes you have good experiences and bad experiences, but it's all about learning."

As chance would have it, the new England coach Eddie Jones was in charge of the Stormers for just eight days before taking on Lancaster's former job. Robbie Fleck has been appointed as the Cape Town franchise's interim coach for the 2016 campaign following Jones' quick departure and Smal says they will continue to bring in coaches from outside of the union to address their staff.

"By all accounts it was a highly productive interaction and his input was fantastic. I think it's really important to keep stimulating our coaches, and sometimes I think there isn't enough of that," Smal said. "This sort of thing is something I feel is very important, and we'll look to continue doing going forward. Next week Johann van Graan will be coming to visit, and it's just good to be able to draw on the knowledge of such people and stimulate the system."