Match Preview – Argentina vs England

The second of two June Internationals between Argentina and England will be played on Saturday. The match has added interested due to the amazing match that was played last Saturday in San Juan. England’s late win gives them the opportunity of a series win in Argentina. Los Pumas need to respond.

Daniel Hourcade’s side quite simply are in damage control. Policies have denied him access to all those playing in Europe. Patricio Fernández and Facundo Isa are two instances of players performing well who would add to the side.

Instead Hourcade’s side is entirely composed of Jaguares players. Tomás Cubelli remains injured. Were he fit then he would be the lone exile in the 23. As it stands Argentina go into game two with one change to the starting lineup from the opening test match in San Juan.

Dropped from last week is Matías Moroni. The outside center played right wing against England in game one. Hourcade has used him out of position in the past but it remains a foreign position, particularly in defense for the CUBA midfielder.

Taking over from Moroni is Ramiro Moyano. The Tucumán outside back was one of the strong points of the Jaguares Super Rugby campaign this season. He is to join Emiliano Boffelli and Joaquín Tuculet in the back three. Moroni will cover from the bench.

Among the replacements Hourcade welcomes back Ramiro Herrera and Tomás Lezana. They take the spots of Santiago García Botta and Leonardo Senatore respectively. The alterations mean that Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro will be used as a loosehead prop replacement.

England Head Coach Eddie Jones has changed three for Santa Fé. Former captain Chris Robshaw is back and will start on the blindside flank. He is to be partnered by Ohio native Sam Underhill who is to make his test debut. The pair join Nathan Hughes in the back row.

The remaining change comes in the backline that sees Super Rugby player Piers Francis making his first start for England after impressing as a replacement last in San Juan. Alex Lozowski will feature from the bench in Santa Fé.

The changes made from both teams indicate that another fast-paced battle is likely. The breakdown will again be fierce, making the set-piece areas of the lineout and scrum to be vital. The winning side in these areas will have a superior platform to attack from.

England’s win in San Juan brought the European’s winning streak up to seven. Argentina’s last triumph over the English was back in 2009 in Salta. On that occasion Juan Manuel Leguizamón scored a double. A young Gonzalo Camacho also scored in his final test before becoming a professional with Harlequins in the Aviva Premiership.

England’s four-point win in San Juan was the narrowest victory since the Rugby World Cup 2011 pool match in Dunedin, New Zealand. That day England ran out 13-9 winners. Overall the teams have played 21 test matches. England has 16 wins compared to Argentina with 4. The teams compete to a draw in their first ever meeting back in 1981 in Buenos Aires.

Argentina goes into the second test on a four-match losing streak. Since beating Japan in November the South Americans have been winless. They competed to narrow defeats to both Wales and Scotland before being outperformed by a 14-man England in November.

By way of comparison England won all 13 test matches in 2016. This saw them winning the Six Nations Grand Slam and downing Australia a staggering four times. In 2017 England currently have five wins from six test matches. The one loss was by 13-9 against Ireland in Dublin. Despite losing England retained the Six Nations title.

Having performed so consistently England are ranked 2nd in the World Rankings. The team is behind only New Zealand. This is a remarkable turnaround following Rugby World Cup 2015. The hosts were dumped out in the pool stage. Their wins over Fiji and Uruguay were insufficient as Australia and Wales both defeated the Robshaw-captained side.

Results give England the edge in Santa Fé. Los Pumas, though are up against a side missing 10 players. This combined with the simple need to turn things around places the teams on even terms. With both sides equally capable of winning this is another match which looms as going down to the wire.

ARGENTINA
1 Lucas Noguera Paz, 2 Agustín Creevy (capt.), 3 Enrique Pieretto, 4 Matías Alemanno, 5 Tomás Lavanini, 6 Pablo Matera, 7 Javier Ortega Desio, 8 Juan Manuel Leguizamón, 9 Martín Landajo, 10 Nicolás Sánchez, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 12 Jerónimo de la Fuente, 13 Matías Orlando, 14 Ramiro Moyano, 15 Joaquín Tuculet

Replacements: 16 Julián Montoya, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Ramiro Herrera, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Tomás Lezana, 21 Gonzalo Bertanou, 22 Juan Martín Hernández, 23 Matías Moroni

ENGLAND
1 Ellis Genge, 2 Dylan Hartley (capt.), 3 Harry Williams, 4 Joe Launchbury, 5 Charlie Ewels, 6 Chris Robshaw, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Nathan Hughes, 9 Danny Care, 10 George Ford, 11 Jonny May, 12 Piers Francis, 13 Henry Slade, 14 Marland Yarde, 15 Mike Brown

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 Fé
Kickoff: 16:15 local (12:15 PT, 15:15 ET)
Referee: John Lacey (IRFU)
Assistants: Nigel Owens (WRU) & Egon Seconds (SARU)
TMO: Aaron Paterson (NZRU)
Broadcasts: ESPN 2