Twickenham yesterday denied that the England tour party had benefited from rugby espionage after the New Zealand coach John Hart claimed that All Black training sessions had been infiltrated before the two summer Tests.

Hart insisted that videotapes had been secretly shot and said an England player, whom he would not name, had informed the New Zealand camp that the code names of various moves and line-out calls were recorded.

But an English RFU spokesman said yesterday: "The England management and team can categorically deny that any member of the tour party was involved in or invited any filming at the open session held by New Zealand before the first Test in Dunedin.

"A copy of an amateur video filmed by a rugby fan of a New Zealand open session was given to the management, but it bore no relation to the preparations for the game."

In making his accusations, Hart had said: "I guess it's something you've got to consider because it could well become part of what the professional game is. It's something I haven't really given much thought to because I didn't think it would happen. But I think the reality is it might be what is the future."

Hart, however, exonerated Australia, who beat New Zealand 24-16 in the Bledisloe Cup match on Saturday, saying he did not think the Wallabies would stoop that low.

Jonah Lomu is one of three New Zealand changes for Tri-Nations Test against South Africa in Wellington on Saturday week. The former Fiji wing Joeli Vidiri has been dropped along with the out-half Andrew Mehrtens, whose kicking failed against Australia, and the centre Scott McLeod. Carlos Spencer and Mark Mayerhofler take their places. Hart said: "I've seen a marked improvement in Jonah over the last couple of weeks."

Meanwhile, South Africa, Australian and New Zealand said yesterday they would not in future accept tours from under-strength British teams.

Australia and New Zealand racked up record victories over an England side shorn of up to 20 senior players while a weakened Welsh combination were crushed 96-13 by South Africa - the heaviest defeat for a Five Nations team.

"We can't keep on playing these under-strength northern hemisphere teams," a South African official said. "Western Samoa would not be any worse than Wales and Argentina couldn't be worse than England. We believe the game should be globalised. There's a slumbering giant in the United States and we do believe that with our support they can become a force in world rugby."

New Zealand: C Cullen; J Wilson, M Mayerhofler, W Little, J Lomu; C Spencer, J Marshall; C Dowd, A Oliver, O Brown, I Jones, R Brooke, M Jones, T Randell capt, J Kronfield.