Wales & England forwards to train against each other before autumn Tests

Wales and England meet every year in the Six Nations

Wales and England forwards will train against each other for the first time before the autumn Tests.

The idea for the one-off session, scheduled for 6 November in Bristol, came after this summer's British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand.

England forwards coach Steve Borthwick was among Lions coach Warren Gatland's assistants for the drawn series.

"There will be a match of 12 large scrums and 15 line-outs," said England coach Eddie Jones.

"We wanted Wayne Barnes (England) to referee but they asked for Nigel Owens (Wales) and we bowed to their wishes."

Gatland's Wales host Australia, Georgia, New Zealand and South Africa on successive Saturdays starting on 11 November.

England face Argentina, Australia and Samoa at Twickenham on the same dates.

• Autumn internationals - fixtures

Australian Jones added: "Everyone will rip into it and there will be physical stuff.

"It will be a good contest that has a bit of feeling in it and there is the risk of injuries, but we need to improve our scrummaging.

"The set-piece has gone from a penalty shootout to the best possession to break the line.

"We still want to scrum like England and gain penalties because that gives players confidence, but we want to be able to use the ball quickly because we have great backs."