Preview: Argentina v England

Both teams will do well to top last week’s thriller in San Juan when Argentina and England face off in Santa Fe this Saturday.

Each side’s respective defence coach might have not enjoyed reviewing the tape but England’s win ticked all the entertainment boxes, settled late on by Denny Solomona’s ultimate act of redemption with that solo try.

No wonder Argentina were spitting at the outcome, having been in a position to win the game after Juan Martín Hernández’s drop goal and after producing some sensational attacking rugby.

Daniel Hourcade will have been fuming but it certanily makes the task of motivating his team this week a lot easier. Making just one change to his side, the addition of Ramiro Moyano on the wing in place of Matías Moroni, the same group of players have been given a chance to make amends.

He explained: “We had control, but we lost and that gave us a lot of anger. We have focussed on being more precise and when we make mistakes we need to react faster so that [England] do not hurt us.”

Accuracy with ball in hand isn’t always easy to achieve when playing at the tempo Argentina have produced in recent years, but there is certainly room to be more accurate. Defence – making 62 tackles out of 79 last week – and the lineout with ten wins from 13 both need work.

As for England, Eddie Jones happily welcomes back Chris Robshaw to his back row but will be intrigued at how Piers Francis, making his first start, and Sam Underhill on debut get on.

Francis is starting to look like an excellent bit of business for Northampton Saints, with Blues supporters unhappy to see him leave and the well-travelled 26-year-old acquitting himself well on his first cap.

Underhill will be under slightly more pressure. The 20-year-old Bath-bound flanker has been hailed as England’s solution at number seven for close to two years now, the traditional style of fetcher that English rugby has lacked for some time.

His efforts for the Ospreys, and the consequent race for his signature along with Jones’ public approval, mean that expectation levels are higher than normal for Underhill. High hopes are warranted.

Win or lose, Jones is sure to be delighted at having built some depth and to have learned about a number of new and young players.

The Curry twins, Nick Isiekwe, Joe Cokanasiga and Jack Maunder might have all been with the U20s in Georgia over the last few weeks. The experience they will have gained with the senior group will have been of huge benefit moving forward.

Better off in terms of personnel for the return of Robshaw and with Underhill at seven – not that Tom Curry disgraced himself by any means last week – England look in a strong position to make it two from two on tour.

Players to Watch

For Argentina: It’s not often that Agustín Creevy has a quiet game by his illustrious standards, which makes the idea of two in a row unimaginable. Brought off unusually before the 50-minute mark, Creevy’s lineout work is obviously key but he brings so much more to Argentina, often proving to be one of their most effective ball carriers. 15 metres from nine runs is unlike him, and a response is expected.

For England: We’ve spoken about Underhill and Francis but keeping attention in the front row, Ellis Genge proved at times in the first Test that elements of his game remain very much in progress. Genge at times can be a fantastic ball carrier, but his overeagerness ended up costing England a try to Tomás Lavanini last week grabbing at a pass that wasn’t for him. This is another big scrummaging test as well with Ramiro Herrera waiting on the bench for Argentina.

Head-to-head: Controlling the pace of Saturday’s Test will fall heavily on the two scrum-halves, Martín Landajo and Danny Care. Landajo is working his way back into his best form after a long lay-off, but an interesting pick-up from last week’s match-up was the number of times Landajo ran with the ball (ten) compared to Care (four), despite both players being known for their darting breaks.

There is no guarantee either that the contest in Santa Fe will be as loose as San Juan, when both number nines only kicked the ball four times. Should the game tighten up then accurate box-kicking will be key, an area where Care has often missed out to Ben Youngs in the past.

Previous results:

2017: England won 38-34 in San Juan
2016: England won 27-14 at Twickenham
2013: England won 31-12 at Twickenham
2013: England won 51-26 in Buenos Aires
2013: England won 32-2 in Salta
2011: England won 13-9 in Dunedin (RWC)
2009: England won 16-9 iat Twickenham
2009: Argentina won 24-22 in Salta

Prediction: As motivated as Argentina will be for revenge, England look strong at the breakdown this week and should be tipped to pick up a 20th win in 21 Tests under Eddie Jones. England by 5.

The teams:

Argentina: 15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Ramiro Moyano, 13 Matías Orlando, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 4 Matías Alemanno, 3 Enrique Pieretto, 2 Agustín Creevy, 1 Lucas Noguera Paz
Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Santiago García Botta, 18 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Leonardo Senatore, 21 Gonzalo Bertanou, 22 Juan Martín Hernández, 23 Matías Moroni

England: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Piers Francis, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 Charlie Ewels, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Harry Williams, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Jack Singleton, 17 Matt Mullan, 18 Will Collier, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Mark Wilson, 21 Jack Maunder, 22 Alex Lozowski, 23 Denny Solomona

Date: Saturday, June 17
Venue: Estadio Brigadier General Estanislao López, Santa Fe
Kick-off: 16:15 local (19:15 GMT)
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), Egon Seconds (South Africa)
TMO: Aaron Paterson (New Zealand)