It’s World Cup anthem time. There is a red rose on your chest and you are standing on the pitch at Twickenham. Up in the stands all you can see are tense English faces. Failure is unthinkable. As the New Zealand coach, Steve Hansen, correctly observed the other day: “The big thing England have to cope with is the massive expectation on them at home … the English will expect them to win.”

If anyone understands the pros and cons of home advantage it is the All Blacks. Four years ago they lifted the Webb Ellis Cup despite knowing an entire nation would never forgive them if they fell short. Brazil’s footballers, in a similar situation last year, coped rather less well. Playing at home only takes you so far, as England will shortly discover. “This World Cup has several potential winners which means the quality of their mental preparation could make all the difference,” says Jeremy Snape, the former England cricketer turned performance coach.

According to the psychologist Paul Boross, another leading motivational expert whose work is a regular feature of Sky’s School of Hard Knocks, the first job is to silence the negative “self talk” that will surface before big games. Familiar surroundings matter far less than uncluttered minds. “It might be something like: ‘All my family are in the crowd,’” says Boross, also known as The Pitch Doctor. “Some players can melt under that. What they need to do is quieten down their minds.

“There’s a saying in psychology that whatever you say to yourself becomes your reality. The mind can’t tell the difference between something that’s real and something that’s vividly imagined.”

In Boross’s view, removing the lurking fear of failure is the key to everything. While sticking to a set routine helps – “It’s as old as Pavlov” – positive thinking is equally important. “Psychologically people tend to concentrate on things like: ‘What went wrong? Right, we’ll try and sort that out.’ I would flip it on its head completely and concentrate on what went right when things were going really well. What state were they in? When did they last feel what we call ‘flow state’? What was actually happening?”

“What you want to build are people who can perform under any circumstances. Some people will find it harder than others. They’ll be thinking: ‘Oh my God, everybody in the country is going to be watching me. It’s going to be on the front page of all the papers. It’s going to be the No1 story.’ When you’re in, say, Australia you’re distanced from it.”

Snape, who has worked with South Africa’s cricketers among others, suggests that building “a tour mentality within the UK” will be helpful, in addition to treating the extra attention as an opportunity. “Rather than worrying about what people expect of you, think what playing well and courageously would do for them. Think ‘We can inspire a nation’ rather than feeling the crowd as a burden.”

Coaches will also have a key role, not least in terms of subverting their own egos. “Coaches who do the minutiae just before a match are bound to fail,” says Boross. “With the best coaches the last team talk is just one message. The conscious mind can hold between five and nine pieces of information at any one time. The unconscious mind can hold millions. That means you can’t give them too many things to think about before they go out.

“What they are ultimately looking for is unconscious competence. None of the greatest players in the world consciously think: ‘I must jink to the right now.’ All the greats are doing it at a deeply unconscious level. If you quieten down your mind you’re going to increase your chances of experiencing those beautiful perfect moments.”

In this respect, Boross reckons New Zealand enjoy a head start via their pre-match haka. He believes that what happens immediately before a game – during the anthems, in the final moments before kick-off – can make an “enormous difference” in a way few people understand.

“Everyone talks about the haka being a war chant and being there to frighten the opposition. Actually what it’s doing is bonding them psychologically and physically into a tight unit. I’ve had whole sports teams, before they go out, just breathing at the same rate. It makes them feel connected and builds rapport.”

Does that mean the Kiwis are pulling a fast one? “I don’t think working yourself up into a good state is any kind of unfair advantage. More fool everyone else for not doing something similar. You don’t have to do a haka but you can do something that creates the same feeling.” Snape also stresses the need for opponents “to see it as a ceremonial show rather than a psychological advantage”.

Having worked regularly with the inspirational Scott Quinnell on School of Hard Knocks – also a charity which supports social inclusion through sport – Boross has some additional advice for Warren Gatland before Wales’s pool game with England. “If I was Warren Gatland I would be on the phone to Scott. If you’ve been in the room during one of his team-talks it’s extraordinarily moving. I’ve found myself thinking: ‘Where are my boots, I’ll go out there with them.’ Why wouldn’t you use somebody with that passion to wind them up?”

So would he bet the house on England simply because they are at home? “No. It will come down to how well they manage the pressure of being at home as opposed to the advantage it brings. The indicators are not that good. The only indicator you can give recently is the 2012 Olympics when it did work, but I don’t think it’s a given.

“If they’ve managed the psychology in the right way it could be an extraordinary advantage but I would be concentrating more on getting them into a nice closed visualisation state and making sure they’re used to being in that maelstrom. It boils down to what we call ‘arousal control’. Some people get over-aroused, then get over-stimulated and can’t cope.”

Ultimately, complete trust and belief in your team-mates is fundamental, too. “England’s victorious 2003 team were so well prepared psychologically. All of them were in a state of, ‘I’m not going to let my colleagues down.’ Psychologically that helps because your attention is turned outwards rather than inwards. Belief is everything. As Henry Ford once said: ‘Whether you think you can or you think you can’t – you’re right.’” Never mind the rugby, let the mind games begin.