England rugby coach Stuart Lancaster is looking forward to picking the brains of soccer counterpart Roy Hodgson in a bid to gain an insight into how to cope with the burden of expectation.
England are due to host the 2015 World Cup and Lancaster is keen to see what hecan learn from Hodgson, who oversaw a 2-0 win over Poland at Wembley on Wednesday that guaranteed England a place at next year's soccer World Cup in Brazil.
Lancaster hopes to meet up with Hodgson in November when the England rugby team face Australia, Argentina and world champions New Zealand on successive weekends at Twickenham.
"Hopefully Roy will come into camp and we'll have a chance to chat," Lancaster said yesterday after naming his squad for next month's tests.
"I thought the way they coped with [the expectation and pressure], the way Roy coped with it, was magnificent really."
Lancaster added: "One of the challenges we'll face is the expectation and pressure of being the home team at a World Cup.
"New Zealand faced that in 2011 and I thought they had that maturity and experience to deal with that pressure and still deliver on the stage. Our challenge is to be that experienced and to be ready for that."
Meanwhile Hodgson, speaking at a separate press conference yesterday, said he too was keen to learn from other sports, notably rugby union and cricket, where overseas tours are routine events.
