International rugby rarely has to fight for airtime in mid-July, but this week in Argentina it is sharing the room with sporting history from an entirely different code.
According to Sky Sports, Steve Borthwick’s England squad have deliberately avoided being seen around Buenos Aires in their national rugby shirts this week, wary of the surroundings ahead of Wednesday’s FIFA World Cup semi-final between England and Argentina’s footballers in Atlanta. Second row Alex Coles, speaking to The Telegraph, said the squad had been “pretty sensible about not wearing our English shirts around too much” given where they are and who they are playing. For a touring party normally happy to be recognised wherever it lands, it is an unusual note of caution — and a reminder of just how large the football rivalry between these two nations still looms, even during a rugby-only week.
Yet dwell on the colour for too long and the substance gets lost: this is also a genuine England Argentina Nations Championship decider, the last fixture of the tournament’s opening block before it resumes in November, and Borthwick’s players insist the noise around them will sharpen rather than distract from the job at hand.
What The England Argentina Nations Championship Clash Actually Means
Saturday’s meeting with the Pumas, confirmed for Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades in Santiago del Estero with Angus Gardner as referee, caps a first block that has swung wildly for England. Borthwick’s side opened the tournament with a 45-21 defeat away to world champions South Africa, then hit back to beat Fiji 73-8 at the Hill Dickinson Stadium — a result built on a red card for Simione Kuruvoli and a standout second-half hat-trick from Henry Pollock that ended a five-match losing run for Borthwick’s side. Beat Argentina and England close out the southern swing with real momentum heading into the autumn; lose, and the Fiji rout will look like a false dawn against a Pumas side building nicely on home soil.
Henry Pollock’s Form And An ‘Angry’ Crowd England Are Ready For
Pollock’s burst off the bench against Fiji — two line breaks, five defenders beaten and a hat-trick completed in the closing seconds — has added real weight to the case for starting him this weekend, part of a wider selection picture that already stretches to England’s half-back pairing. Wing Tommy Freeman, for his part, is bracing for the crowd to turn on England rather than their own footballers if Wednesday’s semi-final goes England’s way. “We’ll see how hostile it gets,” Freeman said. “It’s big for Argentina and us and being here it’s heightened massively… they’ll want to compete to the fullest and we’ll be ready for that.” It is a rare admission from an England squad that the atmosphere itself might be a genuine opponent — one they would rather use than fear.
The broader shape of this competition — explained in full here — means Saturday’s result also shapes seeding heading into the next block, adding a competitive edge to what could otherwise have been dismissed as end-of-tour theatre. England’s selection puzzle only deepens the intrigue: with Marcus Smith’s role at scrum-half still being worked out, Borthwick has decisions to make well beyond who wears which shirt in Buenos Aires this week.
Whatever unfolds in Atlanta on Wednesday night, England’s players will be back in national colours by Saturday evening. If Freeman’s forecast of a hostile, football-charged crowd proves right, Borthwick’s side may simply have to do what touring teams have always done in Argentina: let the rugby do the talking.
