Farrell: 'The rules are the rules'

Both players were sin-binned in Wales' dramatic Six Nations victory over Ireland, although Davies was fortunate not to be sent off for his off-the-ball clash with Donnacha Ryan.

Ferris' tackle on Ian Evans, which handed Wales the match-winning penalty, was deemed by many to be less severe, but the Ireland flanker has been cited nonetheless.

The minimum entry-level suspension for any player found guilty of an illegal tip tackle is three weeks, rising to at least 10 for the most serious cases. The maximum is one-year ban.

As England began their build-up to Saturday's showdown with Italy in Rome, Farrell hammered home the need for his men to keep their discipline in defence.

"There is no point debating it. The rules are the rules," said Farrell, England's assistant coach.

"If you take anybody over the horizontal, whether you put him down gently or hard into the floor, you are going to get penalised and a yellow card or a red card.

"We need to be aware of the rules. Everybody is aware of the rules and watching that game it highlights it even more."

England defended with great heart and discipline in their 13-6 victory over Scotland, making a record number of tackles and conceding only nine penalties in the whole match.

That was a significant development for the new-look national coaching team given a lack of composure and discipline in defence repeatedly cost England during Martin Johnson's regime.

England did have their line broken by Scotland but they were let off the hook by the Scots' now habitual inability to score tries.

Farrell was proud of the way his men scrambled, but he conceded the new defensive system needed to be tightened for the trip to Rome's Olympic Stadium.

"We defended like Trojans at times and we didn't let Scotland cross our line. We made 238 tackles, by our own statistics, and we had to defend for 27 minutes and 48 seconds," Farrell said.

"That is more than I have ever known, that is more than the stats guys have ever known.

"The aim was to give the nation something to be proud about and we definitely did that.

"We are a new team that had 10 days together and to fight for one another like we did and to come out with a victory and the Calcutta Cup was a tremendous effort.

"It is something that has been hard to come by over the last few years. The Scots broke us down at times, there was detail within our system that we need to get right."

England are also hopeful of being able to unleash their much-vaunted new attacking philosophy that interim head coach Stuart Lancaster has put in place.

"In attack, we didn't get the opportunities we would have liked but our shape wasn't a problem," Farrell said.

"The times we did have the ball and got through some phases we looked dangerous, we punched into their defence and got them on the back foot.

"But it was continuity, keeping the ball (that let us down). Our ball security that was more of a problem.

"The fight and togetherness has got to raise again. There is a lot we need to improve on.

"The belief is stronger now (after the victory) and it is nice to get one under the belt."

England have never lost to Italy but they are braced for a fiery occasion, with the match to be staged for the first time in Rome's Olympic Stadium.

"We are not concerned about what lies ahead because the culture we are trying to drive gets us in the right place all the time," Farrell said.

"We know the passions of the Italians. We know they are playing at a new stadium that is going to be full, we know they will want to show what they are about as a rugby nation.

"The size of the challenge is similar to what we met last week."