Gatland looking forward to joint training

Wales head coach Warren Gatland hopes that next Monday's joint training session between his forwards and England's scrum goes well and leads to similar initiatives in the future.

The 54-year-old New Zealander, who will step down after the 2019 World Cup, will bring his forwards to Bristol for a session with Eddie Jones's players next Monday.

The contested set-piece work-out, with 2015 World Cup final referee Nigel Owens officiating, came about after Gatland had a conversation with England forwards coach Steve Borthwick.

It comes just days before both teams begin their series of autumn Tests with England hosting Argentina and Wales facing Australia.

"Given our proximity, it is a great idea to be able to do that," said Gatland on Tuesday.

"We are looking forward to it. It should be good for both teams.

"I think it will be well managed. We are doing some lineouts against each other, then have a good scrummaging session. Both sets of forwards need to get as much out of it as possible.

"If we both get something out of it, it is definitely something that we could look at for the future, maybe before summer tours."

Gatland believes it could prove helpful for both countries' World Cup preparations in Japan -- a tournament he is convinced he can win to round off a 12-year spell in charge in style.

"If we can both benefit out of it, and it means that going forward it is going to help both (countries') preparations for the World Cup and hopefully success in the World Cup, it is something we should look to do," he said.

"We will see how Monday goes, and hopefully it is a good experience for both sets of forwards."

source: AFP