Home comforts could help England - Lancaster

England head coach Stuart Lancaster believes that hosting this year's Rugby World Cup could work to his side's advantage.

While the pressure to lift the trophy for the second time will be huge, he thinks that being able to take a break from the intense competition could be a bonus.

Speaking in host city Newcastle to mark the start of World Cup year, he said: "It's quite hard for all of us to understand the impact.

"The event this evening, just speaking to the guys about the interest in Newcastle on an evening like this probably brings it all home, so when the clock ticks to 2015, for all of us life will be different.

"But the one thing I would also say is I remember reading an article when I was in New Zealand in 2011 that Dan Carter had written about the advantages of being in a hold World Cup where actually, whilst the intense scrutiny in massive and the pressure is huge in terms of home expectation, you can get home.

"You can get out of the bubble of the World Cup, on your day off, you can actually physically go home, you can see family and friends and have a bit of normality in your life, so actually being in England in one way raises expectation, but in another way, allows the players to get a little bit of normality as well.

"I know when I arrived in 2011 in New Zealand, it's a long way from home when you are in the middle of that intense period, so that's one thing to our advantage, and obviously just having the home support as well will be a huge thing for us."

England take on Fiji (18th September), Wales (26th September), Australia (3rd October) and Uruguay (10th October) in the group stage of the World Cup.