Key events
ABSORB SOME CONTEXT
At what point is this match going to produce something resembling a fight? And who will be starting it? Let me know on the email. You can also send other things in, up to you.
Teams
Argentina
Santiago Carreras; Bautista Delguy, Matías Moroni, Justo Piccardo, Mateo Carreras; Tomás Albornoz, Gonzalo García; Mayco Vivas, Julián Montoya, Tomás Rapetti; Guido Petti, Matías Alemanno, Santiago Grondona, Marcos Kremer, Joaquín Oviedo.
Replacements: Ignacio Ruiz, Boris Wenger, Pedro Delgado, Efraín Elías, Pablo Matera, Joaquín Moro, Simón Benítez Cruz, Lucio Cinti.
England
Marcus Smith; Tommy Freeman, Henry Slade, Seb Atkinson, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso; Fin Smith, Jack van Poortvliet; Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Joe Heyes; Alex Coles, George Martin; Ollie Chessum, Guy Pepper, Ben Earl.
Replacements: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Emmanuel Iyogun, George Kloska, Tom Curry, Henry Pollock, Ben Spencer, Benhard Janse van Rensburg, Noah Caluori.
Preamble
Context is everything so they say. Has there ever been a one-off, broadly inconsequential test match with so much context?
You have heard somewhere that England have already lost to Argentina this week, complete with ill-tempered confrontations and topped off with on-field Falklalvinasland banter. The same teams in another sport face each other now with the soundwaves from that row filling the air.
Football is always like though, right? Well, before the high horse of fictional corinthian spirit is smugly climbed upon, the mood music is not exactly mellifluous in the game of rugby union either. Racist abuse from Argentinian fans marred the last meeting here, something England captain Jamie George has referenced, while Henry Pollock has Henry Pollocked his way around Buenos Aires this week.
All of this plays into an interesting fixture. England determined to show they are more the side that ruthlessly dispatched Fiji rather than the one that turned to powder vs the Springboks. Argentina meanwhile will want to shake the pre-season hit-out vibes that have shrouded their opening two rounds. There’s nothing like England plus a barge-load of context to do that.
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