SCRUM OF COMFORT.

Byline: WILLIAM EDWARDS

STUART LANCASTER believes he has the perfect ingredients for victory in Cardiff on Friday - the England scrum and a French referee.

England's head coach is haunted by memories of how those two crucial elements proved so damaging to their Grand Slam hopes at The Millennium Stadium in 2013.

Australian referee Steve Walsh hammered the English scrum, peppering them with penalties that gave Wales a grip on the game they never relinquished in what became a record 30-3 victory.

But Lancaster believes his forwards learned serious lessons that night - and that referee Jerome Garces is particularly sharp at scrum-time.

He said: "Garces refereed us in the Autumn, and I always think he has refereed the scrum well. For me he is one of the top three referees in the world, so he has obviously been given the game for that reason.

"There will be no problem from us. He will referee it fairly, and the way the scrum should be refereed.

"We've got Alex Corbisiero, Mako Vunipola, Joe Marler, Tom Youngs, Dylan Hartley and David Wilson - and Dan Cole is in the mix for the game." Henry Slade and Henry Thomas