By JS
July 14 2026

England head to Santiago del Estero on Saturday with a win and a heavy defeat behind them, a scrum-half gap to fill and a Pumas side that has already shown it can score against anyone. Kick-off is 8.10pm UK time, live on ITV.

Two rounds into the Nations Championship, England's summer has produced one afternoon to forget and one to frame. The 45-21 defeat at Ellis Park showed the distance to South Africa; the 73-8 dismantling of Fiji in Liverpool showed what this side can do when it clicks. Saturday's trip to face Argentina at the Estadio Unico Madre de Ciudades is the game that says which one was closer to the truth.

The Pumas arrive with the same one-from-two record. They were on the wrong end of a ten-try shootout with Scotland in Cordoba, beaten 47-38, then put Wales away 35-21 in San Juan a week later. The pattern is familiar: this Argentina side scores points against anyone, and at home, in the heat, they are nobody's easy fixture.

England's biggest question is at scrum-half. Alex Mitchell's hamstring has ended his tour, and it was telling that Marcus Smith finished the Fiji match filling in at nine. Steve Borthwick has a call to make there, and another in the back row, where Henry Pollock's hat-trick off the bench in Liverpool has made a compelling case for a first start.

History leans England's way - 24 wins from 30 meetings, against five for the Pumas - but the recent chapters have been close-run. Last November's meeting at Twickenham finished 27-23, and Argentina away is a different animal from Argentina in south-west London. Angus Gardner has the whistle.

There is a nice bit of timing to this one, too. It is the second England v Argentina of the week, with the football sides meeting in a World Cup semi-final on Wednesday. Whatever happens there, the rugby renewal of one of sport's spikier rivalries will not lack for edge.

The stakes are plain enough. Win in Santiago del Estero and England head into November's home run - Australia, Japan and New Zealand all at Twickenham - with their route to the finals weekend in their own hands. Lose, and that Fiji scoreline starts to look like the outlier. The Pumas have a habit of telling you exactly where you stand.