Wesley Fofana cut through England but Andy Farrell backs his defence

Andy Farrell believes England still have a defence to be feared despite mistakes against France.

Wesley Fofana scored a long-range try with four England players failing to stop the French centre but Farrell is adamant his players will make it tough for Italy at Twickenham on Sunday.

The backs and defence coach is also confident Toby Flood will shore up the No10 position defensively now Owen Farrell is injured. He said: “Defensively, we want people to fear playing England and we are a team that like to get the ball back as early as possible.

“Defence is massively important and teams can see what we are trying to do and no system is unbreakable. We want a reputation as a force to be reckoned with.

“Chris Ashton missed a tackle against France and came forward a little too late into it while Courtney Lawes can frighten people each time he makes a hit.”

England are bidding for their first Grand Slam since 2003 but two years ago they saw their chances of glory slip away in their final game when they lost 24-8 away to Ireland. Nick Easter, who was the captain that day, is confident England will not make the same mistakes this year.

The Harlequins No8 believes the presence of players such as Dan Cole, Dylan Hartley, James Haskell, Tom Wood, Chris Ashton and Ben Youngs, who were in the side two years ago, will ensure lesson are learned.

“We beat Scotland on the Sunday and then headed to Dublin and, on reflection, we didn’t reach the emotional level that was needed,” said Easter.

“We also were a bit naive to stick to the attacking mindset that had served us well in previous games when the conditions changed. This current England team are very different, play the territory game very well and are incredibly focused when it comes to defence. They are a very tough side to beat.”

WALES prop Gethin Jenkins will miss the match against Scotland with a calf injury.

Jenkins was hurt against Italy and his place for Saturday’s match will be taken by Bath forward Paul James.

Two other changes see flanker Sam Warburton replace Justin Tipuric and lock Alun-Wyn Jones coming in for Andrew Coombs.