After almost two months of fierce competition, Argentina and England will face off one last time in the 2023 Rugby World Cup on Friday night at Stade de France in the bronze final.
These two qualified from Pool D and navigated their quarter-final tests before Los Pumas were fairly comprehensively beaten by the All Blacks in the last four, while England lost by the slenderest of margins to the Springboks.
Match preview
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Argentina kicked their 2023 Rugby World Cup campaign off against this opponent back in week one, and despite entering the match as the favourites, they suffered a 27-10 defeat with one of their weakest performances of the year.
In fairness, Los Pumas were never really at their best in any of their group-stage wins against Samoa, Chile, and Japan, but they certainly kicked into top gear in what was the unquestionable highlight of the tournament for them, beating Wales 29-17 in the quarter-final.
However, last week against the All Blacks, the class of the opponent took a major step up, and while many had not given Argentina much of a chance to win the match, few could have anticipated such a one-sided contest.
Michael Cheika's side managed a few promising phases in the first half, but their defensive shortcomings were evident, and New Zealand eventually dominated the match to cruise past them and into the final.
While playing for third is difficult to get too excited about, the South American side will embrace the opportunity to seek retribution for their defeat to this opponent in their opening match, and if they can focus on dominating the scrum and minimizing errors, they will be in with an excellent chance of matching their best-ever World Cup finish.
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If New Zealand's 28-24 win over Ireland and South Africa's 29-28 victory to knock out the hosts go down as a couple of the best matches in history, then last week's semi-final between England and the Springboks certainly deserves a place right up there.
England, not favoured by many, delivered a remarkably strong performance against the defending champions, asserting dominance across various aspects of the game, and most would agree that it was quite unfortunate for them to endure a narrow one-point loss.
Despite going into the match as the underdogs, England executed their plan to perfection, with pin-point kicking and scrummaging with real intensity while also maintaining scoreboard pressure on South Africa throughout the match.
However, as has been the case a few times already in this competition, the alterations made in the Springbok pack proved decisive and forced The Red Roses to concede penalties, with the final one providing Handre Pollard the opportunity to send the defending champions into the final, and he made no mistake in doing so.
Steve Borthwick's side clinched victory against this opponent in week one with a special performance from George Ford, who kicked all 27 points in the match and got a 14-man England side off to a winning start, but with the pressure now off and based on the changes made, we should see a lot more running with the ball in hand in this one.
Argentina Rugby World Cup form:
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- W
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England Rugby World Cup form:
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- L
Team News
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Cheika has opted for minimal changes, making only three alterations to their starting line-up from their loss to New Zealand for the upcoming third-place playoff against England on Friday.
Pedro Rubiolo, scrum-half Tomas Cubelli, and centre Jeronimo de la Fuente are brought into the side, taking the places of Tomas Lavanini, Gonzalo Bertranou, and Santiago Chocobares, respectively.
Juan Cruz Mallia, Emiliano Boffelli, and Mateo Carreras retain their positions in the back three, with Lucio Cinti maintaining his place at centre alongside De la Fuente.
In contrast, Borthwick has made wholesale changes to the side that took on the Springboks last week, bringing in as many as eight new faces as his side go in search of the bronze medal.
Freddie Stewart is the only survivor in the back three, though he moves to the right wing in place of Jonny May, while Marcus Smith returns at full-back and Henry Arundell comes into the left wing role.
Once again, Manu Tuilagi and Joe Marchant take their positions in the centres, while Owen Farrell captains the side at fly-half, accompanied by the experienced number nine Ben Youngs.
Ollie Chessum and Maro Itoje form the starting locks, while there is a completely revamped front row with Ellis Genge at loosehead, Theo Dan at hooker, and Will Stuart at tighthead.
Argentina starting lineup: 15. Juan Cruz Mallia, 14. Emiliano Boffelli, 13. Lucio Cinti, 12. Jeronimo de la Fuente, 11. Mateo Carreras, 10. Santiago Carreras, 9. Tomas Cubelli, 8. Facundo Isa, 7. Marcos Kremer, 6. Juan Martin Gonzalez, 5. Pedro Rubiolo, 4. Guido Petti, 3. Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2. Julian Montoya (c), 1. Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16. Agustin Creevy, 17. Joel Sclavi, 18. Eduardo Bello, 19. Matias Alemanno, 20. Rodrigo Bruni, 21. Lautaro Bazan Velez, 22. Nicolas Sanchez, 23. Matias Moroni
England starting lineup: 15. Marcus Smith, 14. Freddie Steward, 13. Joe Marchant, 12. Manu Tuilagi, 11. Henry Arundell, 10. Owen Farrell (c), 9. Ben Youngs, 8. Ben Earl, 7. Sam Underhill, 6. Tom Curry, 5. Ollie Chessum, 4. Maro Itoje, 3. Will Stuart, 2. Theo Dan, 1. Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16. Jamie George, 17. Bevan Rodd, 18. Dan Cole, 19. David Ribbans, 20. Lewis Ludlam, 21. Danny Care, 22. George Ford, 23. Ollie Lawrence
Head To Head
In the 26 encounters between these nations, England have emerged victorious 20 times, with Argentina securing five wins and one match ended in a draw. The most recent match was won 27-10 by England in their first match of the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
We say: Argentina 17-30 England
While it is not the match either side would have been hoping to participate in this weekend, there is still pride to play for, and both sets of players will want to give their fans something to cheer about one more time. If England have been able to put their emotional defeat from last week behind them, we feel they will be able to take home the bronze.
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Devesh Jaganath
