Steffon Armitage has been charged with providing quick-ball for England this weekend © Getty Images

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Players/Officials: Steffon Armitage

Tournaments/Tours: Six Nations

Teams: England | London Irish

England forwards coach John Wells has expressed his confidence that debutant openside Steffon Armitage can turn around their stuttering fortunes at the breakdown against Italy at Twickenham on Saturday.

Armitage has been rewarded with his first senior cap after an excellent season for London Irish and with Italy fielding nine forwards, with regular openside Mauro Bergamasco starting at scrum-half, he will need to be at his combative best. England struggled to find quick ball during their autumn defeats to Australia, South Africa and New Zealand and will now look to Armitage and fellow back-rowers James Haskell and Nick Easter to pick up the physicality and guarantee front-foot possession.

"Steffon has had a tremendous season so far at London Irish," said Wells. "He has found himself in the seven shirt for this international. He has been a very impressive ball carrier and very impressive in and around the tackle area.

"He will find the international arena difficult to start with but we all have massive confidence in the guy because we all know how well he carries, how bright a footballer he is in open spaces, how good he is over the ball.

"He has said in the past how he wanted a go and now he has his opportunity. We were nowhere near as clinical as South Africa and New Zealand when we got into the opponents' 22. They put bodies where they could and slowed the ball down very well. We have been working very hard in the last two weeks on trying to get these stray bodies off the ball." England felt the wrath of the referees during the autumn, with Alan Rolland sin-binning four players during the 32-6 loss to the All Blacks, but they can expect to be rewarded by Saturday's referee Mark Lawrence should they gain momentum on the floor.

"If we get across the gain line, dominate the contest for the ball, we will be in a good position because Mark Lawrence has said he will reward the dominant team," said attack coach Brian Smith. "We expect a massive arm wrestle - we think Italy come with the biggest pack in the championship - but if we get on top, we can free things up. Andy Goode impressed us so much in Portugal, we had no hesitation in giving him his opportunity."

Scrum-coach Graham Rowntree has also highlighted the importance of a decent platform against the likes of Bergamasco and IRB Player of the Year nominee Sergio Parisse.

England's scrum came under surprising pressure during the autumn, with Australia cashing in on some dubious skill-levels from the home side. "I have been around to all their clubs and all those guys have done a lot of stuff," said Rowntree. "We have reviewed them all as a coaching group about where they have got to improve. We have to sort those improvements. Lots of little things were learned as a group and by individuals during the autumn series as a pack."