England head coach Stuart Lancaster hosts lecture

The event, which was held at Headingley Carnegie Stadium saw Lancaster - a former undergraduate student at Leeds Met - joined by former Lions coach Sir Ian McGeechan, former Wales and Lions fly half Gareth Davies and former England and Lions wing John Bentley.

As the British & Irish Lions prepare for their forthcoming tour to Australia, the experienced panel of coaches and former players discussed the challenges of the coach, how personalities are managed whilst on tour and how coaches and players deal with success and failure.

Speaking before the event, Lancaster, said: "I think the Lions will go well in Australia. The Lions have picked a really good balanced squad; they've got a lot of experienced players but lots of exciting players in there as well.

"I think people underestimate how tough Australia will be, the Australians are a very competitive nation, but I do think the Lions can be more than competitive. The warm-up games probably won't take as much out of them as warm-up games in New Zealand or South Africa would, and as a consequence I think they'll be able to go into test matches fresh and get that win."

In relation to his team losing out to Wales in this year's Grand Slam, Lancaster said: "It was difficult to lose the grand slam and triple championship in one go. We met at 11 o'clock the day after and I tried to put the defeat into perspective. I showed them the previous five games that we'd won and where we were in terms of our international experience. From my point of view it was about putting the defeat into perspective as difficult as it was at the time."

Reflecting on his time as a student at Leeds Met, Lancaster commented: "I did my degree back in '88 and I think the university really helped me broaden my horizons and understanding of sport science at the time. For me personally I would say that Leeds Metropolitan University was integral in my development as a coach. I have always encouraged my rugby players who've gone on to academy level to go to university because it allows them to develop skills outside their rugby environment."

Supported by Yorkshire Bank, the lecture is part of Leeds Met's 'Carnegie Conversations' guest lecture series, organised by the University's Carnegie Faculty.

In July 2012 Stuart Lancaster was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Sport by Leeds Metropolitan for his significant contribution to the field of sport and coaching.

Gareth Davies is the Dean of the Carnegie Faculty at Leeds Metropolitan University and previously worked for the Welsh Assembly Government, based in Sydney, as Head of International Business Wales for Australia, New Zealand and Wales.

Future lectures to be held in the series include a session on Monday 3 June, where Leeds Rhinos and Great Britain captain Kevin Sinfield will present while on Monday 1 July international cricketers Alec Stewart and Jason Gillespie will be interviewed by South African cricketer Dave Callaghan about the impending Ashes series.