Warren Gatland believes Wales can win the World Cup

Warren Gatland believes Wales can win the World Cup as they prepare for their autumn international campaign.

Gatland returns as boss having not managed a Wales match for over a year as he spent the 2016-17 season concentrating on the British and Irish Lions tour.

The New Zealander, who named his 36-man squad for the autumn Tests against Australia, Georgia, New Zealand and South Africa last week, is relishing the start of the 24-month World Cup countdown.

"I am very excited," he said. "We spoke last week about the countdown of the next two years.

"I need to stress we can win the World Cup. We know we need to stay healthy and not pick up too many injuries.

"What is exciting for us about this group of players is their age-profile and experience. We should be able to go in with a fantastic balance of youth and experience."

Wales have a joint forwards training session with England which will take place in Bristol on November 6 before the countries launch their Autumn test schedules.

Gatland said: "It originated out of a conversation I had with (England forwards coach) Steve Borthwick about three or four weeks ago, just floating the idea about whether he would be interested in meeting halfway for a session.

"Given our proximity, it is a great idea to be able to do that. We are looking forward to it. It should be good for both teams."

Gatland hopes the set-piece work-out, hosted by top Welsh referee Nigel Owens, will continue in future years if both teams benefit from the session.

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

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

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