England prop Dan Cole has expressed his belief that Italy will be fiercely competitive in the scrum when the two sides meet in the Six Nations at Twickenham on Sunday.

Italy's pack, led by Cole's Leicester Tigers teammate Martin Castrogiovanni, have impressed so far during the Six Nations championship.

"The way they have scrummaged so far in this competition, the first two games they were what you would expect from Italy," Cole told Sky Sports News.

"Against Wales they came a little bit unstuck but we said they would go away and focus on their scrum, like we will do after our performance against France. It will be two good sides trying to go at it.

"We are focused on Italy. They are coming to Twickenham with nothing to lose. They are a dangerous side, we saw that against France earlier in the tournament and we don't want to be on the end of that kind of result."

Italy were defeated 26-9 by Wales in their last Six Nations outing on February 23.