England v Argentina - 09.00 GMT, 05/10/19 - Match thread

[BamBam]

England: 15. Elliot Daly; 14. Anthony Watson, 13. Manu Tuilagi, 12. Owen Farrell (c), 11. Jonny May; 10. George Ford, 9. Ben Youngs; 1. Joe Marler, 2. Jamie George, 3. Kyle Sinckler; 4. Maro Itoje, 5. George Kruis; 6. Tom Curry, 7. Sam Underhill, 8. Billy Vunipola.

Replacements: 16. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17. Mako Vunipola, 18. Dan Cole, 19. Courtney Lawes, 20. Lewis Ludlam, 21. Willi Heinz, 22. Henry Slade, 23. Jack Nowell.

Argentina: 15. Emiliano Boffelli, 14. Matías Moroni, 13. Matias Orlando, 12. Jeronimo de la Fuente, 11. Santiago Carreras, 10. Benjamin Urdapilleta, 9. Tomas Cubelli, 8. Javier Ortega Desio, 7. Marcos Kremer, 6. Pablo Matera (c), 5. Tomas Lavanini, 4. Guido Petti Pagadizabal, 3. Juan Figallo, 2. Julian Montoya, 1. Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro

Replacements: 16. Agustín Creevy, 17. Mayco Vivas, 18. Santiago Medrano, 19. Matias Alemanno, 20. Tomas Lezana, 21. Felipe Ezcurra, 22. Lucas Mensa, 23. Bautista Delguy

Thought it was time for a match thread

[BamBam]

Outside of the surprise of no Sanchez, I've just seen that Creevy has been benched too. Montoya has looked very good when I've seen him, but Creevy has always struck me as one of their emotional leaders as well as being captain in the past, so a bit of a surprise

Anyone know much about their fly half?

[LondonTiger]

Starting 10? Currently at Castries I think, was at Quins for a little while. Rather flaky iirc. Guy covering 10 on the bench is a centre from one of the amateur clubs in Argentina. Not deemed good enough for Jaguares a world cup match against England would be a big occasion.

[BamBam]

Hopefully the 9-12 axis should be an advantage for us then, Cubelli is a very good player but Ford-Farrell should have the edge on the opposition.

Argentina pack looks like it'll be strong around the field, but they have struggled at scrums recently from what I remember in the RC, was it the same against France? Back 5 of the pack will have a real physical threat carrying and tackling, we'll have to front up there

[No 7&1/2]

Scrum looked massively different in their game vs France. They've obviously spent a good bit of time in it in training.

[Guest]

Argentine 10 looks very flaky from what I've seen of him.

All signs that Ledesma isn't long in the job. 10 dropped, captain on the bench. Hasn't got it right at all.

Expect a spirited Argentina to fall apart second half when blood and thunder isn't enough. Comfortable scoreboard for England.

[Mr Bounce]

I like the England Team and am expecting a fast start, with hopefully precious few penalties against them. I would be surprised if the final result isn't a bonus point win.

Joe Marler and his front row buddies must be licking their lips about getting to grips with their scrum, given its recent performance against France.

If there's no silly cards and/or penalties when we're on the ascendance in the game, I can see at least 5 players on the try score sheet.

[Poorfour]

Urdapilleta was one of Quins' seemingly endless sequence of backups to Nick Evans who didn't quite cut it. For all that those are big boots to fill, he wasn't consistent enough to be a good backup. Expect England to put him under pressure from the off.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

The match officials, if anyone's interested:

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant 1: Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant 2: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)

[TightHEAD]

Good old Nigel.

At least we'll get an explanation for the penalties we give away.

[Guest]

With Nige as referee this should be a good test for England.

They're basically the last team to have a 'proper' test match - and it's been a while coming. With Nige, a team in last chance saloon, the prospect of being undercooked, greasy conditions, the prospect of overplaying and being rusty...there's a banana skin here.

England should utilise the kicking game on Saturday I think. Avoid overdoing it with ball in hand if it they find themselves knocking it on promising positions first quarter.

[No 7&1/2]

Last chance saloon is next week. If we lose on saturday. This allows us to qualify with 1 game to go.

[Cyril]

I believe he means Argentina are in last chance saloon.

Anyway, I fully expect England to win very comfortably. England are a far superior side in every aspect. I actually think we’ll beat them by more than Wales beat Fiji.

England are focussed, on the money and have a better bench than Argentina starters.

[No 7&1/2]

Oh. That makes more sense. I'll be surprised if it's a close game to be honest. We're by a distance alot better.

[hugehandoff]

says a huge amount about England when you consider the players not in the squad like Wilson and Cockanasiga. A huge change from just last Autumn when we played the All Blacks as per below lineup.

More power now with Marler, both Vunipolas, Manu and George finally starting, quite rightly, ahead of Hartley. Ewels and Hepburn were a clear step down for me on the bench and now we are blessed.

Forwards
1 Ben Moon
2 Dylan Hartley (Co-captain)
3 Kyle Sinckler
4 Maro Itoje
5 George Kruis
6 Brad Shields
7 Sam Underhill
8 Mark Wilson
Backs
9 Ben Youngs
10 Owen Farrell (Co-captain)
11 Jonny May
12 Ben Te’o
13 Henry Slade
14 Chris Ashton
15 Elliot Daly

Replacements
16 Jamie George
17 Alec Hepburn
18 Harry Williams
19 Charlie Ewels
20 Courtney Lawes
21 Danny Care
22 George Ford
23 Jack Nowell

[majesticimperialman]

I do like the look of the England team. With Ford and Farrell starting together you know it will be a full on all hand's to the pump, run the ball keep Argentina pined down the their  own half.

Am expecting/hoping England get the bonus point before half time.

[robbo277]

Englsnd are ranked just behind Wales in the rankings and Fiji are just behind Argentina - despite their ranking taking a hammering when they lost to Uruguay, so you'd say England vs Argentina and Wales vs Fiji should be comparable games.

Bookies are barely given Argentina a chance, out at 7s. It would take Argentina playing really well, forcing errors and us basically stuffing it up a bit for an upset here.

[RiscaGame]

I would expect England to win with a BP, but expecting one before halftime is pretty ambitious Madge.

[yappysnap]

Urdapilleta was one of Quins' seemingly endless sequence of backups to Nick Evans who didn't quite cut it. For all that those are big boots to fill, he wasn't consistent enough to be a good backup. Expect England to put him under pressure from the off.

Apparently hes become a much better player in France. But yes, pretty average and prone to errors at Quins.

[yappysnap]

For the first time in the tournament theres pressure on the Eng players. Thatll play a big part imo, could see a lot of mistakes in the first quarter as they settle, an early score would do wonders to settle them.

[BamBam]

https://twitter.com/davidflatman/status/1179907997062975488?s=12

Imagine the size of the Tuilagi family fridge

[LondonTiger]

https://twitter.com/davidflatman/status/1179907997062975488?s=12

Imagine the size of the Tuilagi family fridge

Once upon a time Logo Mulipola used to host the "Samoan Christmas Dinner" with almost a team's worth of Tuilagi's in attendance. They used to be massive events.  Not sure if his Brother-in-Law (Castro) ever turned up.

[BamBam]

https://twitter.com/davidflatman/status/1179907997062975488?s=12

Imagine the size of the Tuilagi family fridge

Once upon a time Logo Mulipola used to host the "Samoan Christmas Dinner" with almost a team's worth of Tuilagi's in attendance. They used to be massive events.  Not sure if his Brother-in-Law (Castro) ever turned up.

Was there much food left for anyone else in Leicester supermarkets?

[Luckless Pedestrian]

All that was left was a few bottles of pineappleade.

(Obscure 'Still Game' reference there.)

[TightHEAD]

I fancy us to blow them away in the first half. then cling on for the remainder of the 2nd.

[maestegmafia]

I fancy us to blow them away in the first half. then cling on for the remainder of the 2nd.

Likely to be the scenario

Be much better for English rugby to see if England can get a win when they are behind, we have seen many games where England pull ahead early but to really show what they can do we need to see if they have got the ability to get back into a game if the start doesn’t go well.

[Luckless Pedestrian]

They should give the Pumas a couple of early tries then, so we can find out.

[Soul Requiem]

I fancy us to blow them away in the first half. then cling on for the remainder of the 2nd.

Likely to be the scenario

Be much better for English rugby to see if England can get a win when they are behind, we have seen many games where England pull ahead early but to really show what they can do we need to see if they have got the ability to get back into a game if the start doesn’t go well.

You mean like the whole of the 2017 six nations, South Africa and Japan last year, other examples too. The trick is surely to pull ahead early and then win convincingly rather than go behind early, can't think of many instances of New Zealand needing to claw themselves back into a game during a world cup.

[Soul Requiem]

https://twitter.com/davidflatman/status/1179907997062975488?s=12

Imagine the size of the Tuilagi family fridge

That picture almost makes Manu look like an ordinary human being, Henry is a monster.

[TightHEAD]

https://twitter.com/davidflatman/status/1179907997062975488?s=12

Imagine the size of the Tuilagi family fridge

That picture almost makes Manu look like an ordinary human being, Henry is a monster.

I guess they are not vegans.

[SecretFly]

https://twitter.com/davidflatman/status/1179907997062975488?s=12

Imagine the size of the Tuilagi family fridge

That picture almost makes Manu look like an ordinary human being, Henry is a monster.

I guess they are not vegans.

Why not?

You ever see the size of vegans in the natural world, and all that Prime muscle? - bulls, stallions, gorillas. Chimps are whimps by comparison and get all ugly when they gets old, coz of all that toxic meat they eat on the side.

[TightHEAD]

The queue for the toilet in the morning would be fun after all that Veg!

[Rugby Fan]

https://twitter.com/davidflatman/status/1179907997062975488?s=12

Imagine the size of the Tuilagi family fridge

Peter Stringer's reply to that tweet is great.

https://twitter.com/stringer9/status/1179915410885480449

In a reddit thread, someone thought the Stringers looked like an Aphex Twin video

[BamBam]

Could have rolled any of the brothers out in a green Ireland number 9 jersey and would never have known the difference

[SecretFly]

Have they a spare No 9 brother at home that hasn't been claimed by a Nation of the World yet?

Yep, if they have, we'd be in the market for him.

[formerly known as Sam]

Have they a spare No 9 brother at home that hasn't been claimed by a Nation of the World yet?

Yep, if they have, we'd be in the market for him.

Manu is the little brother. The older brothers have some sons in and around professional rugby but none of the new generation have shown the ability of the their elders.

https://twitter.com/davidflatman/status/1179907997062975488?s=12

Imagine the size of the Tuilagi family fridge

Once upon a time Logo Mulipola used to host the "Samoan Christmas Dinner" with almost a team's worth of Tuilagi's in attendance. They used to be massive events.  Not sure if his Brother-in-Law (Castro) ever turned up.

Was there much food left for anyone else in Leicester supermarkets?

It's why they moved to Leicestershire in the first place. All the farm land in the county to keep up the supply of pork and chicken.

Given Mulipola married into an Italian family I bet there was a lot of carbs on offer as well. I hope the Cockers pre contract for Logo's twin boys with Castogiovanni's sister is real. Want those genes in a Tigers shirt.

[maestegmafia]

Good luck england fans. I am sure this is going to be a cracking match

[majesticimperialman]

Good luck england fans. I am sure this is going to be a cracking match

I hope so.

[Cyril]

It’s going to be a big win for England

[RiscaGame]

It’s going to be a big win for England

In the end yes. Hopefully for you, you get a bit of a scrap to warm you up for bigger things to come.

[Rugby Fan]

This will be the first time in years I've managed to go to the stadium to see an England Test match. I've seen the Wallabies and All Blacks more than my own team.

It's a warm day today, due to hit 32 degrees at midday, and probably still around the high 20s by kick-off. Feels quite windy in the centre of Tokyo but it may be different at the stadium, which is 13 miles west of here.

[BigTrevsbigmac]

Enjoy the day Rugby Fan - keep us posted

[maestegmafia]

Here we go...! First of the big games for England.... this is where your RWC really starts.

[TightHEAD]

That's so disrespectful to Tonga and USA.

Both those games were competitive and very similar to Sarries playing the likes of Wuzz, Newcastle or Quin's in the Premiership.

[maestegmafia]

That's so disrespectful to Tonga and USA.

No it is not. Argentina are a better side, they are ranked higher.

[TightHEAD]

Its not all about rankings, rugby is a game built on respect, let's not belittle teams who gave their all against us.

[EnglishReign]

I hate it when we wear the change kit. Never play well in it.

[TightHEAD]

Does seem unfair we have to change again?

Everyone is against us

[tigertattie]

Bit of a miss from Argentina that. Never get the whole miss pass thing like that. Just put it through the hands

[BamBam]

Excellent response to a strong start from Argentina

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