LONDON - Warren Gatland has tipped England to win the Grand Slam following their controversial victory over Wales.
England maintained their unbeaten start to the Six Nations at Twickenham on Saturday - but only after a contentious disallowed try by Wales full back Gareth Anscombe.
It helped Eddie Jones secure his 24th victory in 25 Tests as head coach, while keeping England on track for their second clean sweep in three years.
"England have won their first two games, so they are in a good position to potentially go and win the Grand Slam," said Wales coach Gatland. England must now beat Scotland, France and Ireland to secure the Slam.
Having reaped the rewards of last year’s training session with Wales, Jones has organised set-piece drills with Georgia this week, in preparation for the trip to Murrayfield a week on Saturday.
"We want to have the best scrum in the world and they’re the biggest, ugliest, strongest scrum pack in the world," said Jones. "Why wouldn’t we want to scrummage against them? It’s fantastic.
"We’ll do scrums and lineouts on Tuesday and Wednesday. We want to win the Six Nations but we’re also using this as a trial for the World Cup, so it’s a great opportunity to get some really quality scrum practice in. We’ll do the same number of scrums that we would in a game."
Skipper Dylan Hartley believes it is the ideal mid-tournament preparation.
"Every scrum has to be intense otherwise you get folded up like a travel map stuffed in your back pocket," he said. "By mixing it up and training against someone different, we will find something out about ourselves and we will learn.
"If I scrum against Jamie George, Alec Hepburn and Harry Williams, they know what we are trying to do, we know what they are trying to do and we end up negating each other. It will be a useful training exercise."
England are awaiting medical updates on winger Anthony Watson and No 8 Sam Simmonds, who were the only casualties of Saturday’s victory. No 8 Nathan Hughes and prop Kyle Sinckler, however, provided an injury boost on Sunday by returning to club action with Wasps and Harlequins. The squad will also transfer from Pennyhill Park to London this week.