President Nelson Mandela said he was pleased that tensions within South African rugby had been resolved after rugby bosses met him yesterday to brief him about the future of the sport.

"We are now able to pick the pieces so that rugby can go forward, because it is a very important national pastime in the country," said Mandela following the meeting at his official Cape Town residence.

The encounter follows a decision by the South African Rugby Football Union (SARFU) executive last week to apologise to Mandela in person for forcing him to give evidence in court.

Mandela made no mention of an apology, however. "These are confidential matters which I wouldn't like to talk about," he said.

Mandela's legal adviser told reporters after the meeting that it had been agreed to treat it as a briefing and not as an apology. "As far as I'm concerned every problem has disappeared", said Mandela.

For two days in March, Mandela was cross-examined on his decision to appoint a judicial commission of inquiry into rugby's affairs - the first time a sitting head of state has been forced to court.

SARFU executive member Toby Titus told SABC state radio before the meeting: "He's a wonderful man and I think we owe it not only to him, but to the country to publicly apologise."

Mandela said the purpose of the meeting, which had gone "very smoothly", had been to brief him on SARFU's progress in its negotiations with the National Sports Council (NSC) - South Africa's governing sports body - over how rugby will be run in future.