Rugby World Cup 2019: Why England would settle for a boring victory in emotional ‘battle’ against Argentina

If Argentina are to remain in this Rugby World Cup beyond the pool stage, they are certainly making the right noises. The South Americans know that their match in Tokyo against England is a simple case of must-win, and a number of their squad have verbally ramped up the stakes to try and unsettle the English.

Talk of “a battle”, a “war” and tests of “manlihood” have littered the nine-day build-up to this match. But the problem for Argentina is that while they are talking the talk, history shows in this fixture that they struggle to walk the walk.

England have won the last nine meetings with the Pumas and are the overwhelming bookmakers’ favourites to make it 10 tomorrow, with Mario Ledesma’s side winning just one of their last 10 Tests against all opposition – last weekend’s victory over Tonga a welcome respite for a team that that was quickly forgetting what it felt like to win.

That of course is because they play in the Rugby Championship with New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, three heavyweights of the game. But if you look at across 2019 and take in all results, performances, rankings and the individual players who make up the squad, England have joined that heavyweight division.

It is why, when he attempted to explain what England’s first real test of the World Cup will be, Eddie Jones chose his words specifically to gee-up his heavyweight forwards.

“Argentina base their game on the scrum,” he said. “It’s a test of manlihood so you have to take them on up-front – scrum, maul, ruck attack, ruck defence. That’s where it will be won.

“Everyone trained really well this morning – they’re looking fit, fast, brutal and ready to go.

“There are no last-minute messages. The players are well prepared after a good week’s preparation. They know what to do, now they just have to go out there and do it.”

The plan is to batter Argentina into set-piece submission, which as we’ve seen in previous games allows George Ford and Owen Farrell to start pulling the strings behind the pack. That takes time to implement, with the energy reserves needing to be drained before such a plan can be effective, and six days on from the frantic and fascinating affair between Wales and Australia, Tokyo Stadium looks set for something far more sluggish.

Which brings us to Agustin Creevy’s comments in mid-week, specifically that the English rugby structure can be seen as a more boring version of the Argentinian philosophy. It drew mixed responses from the England camp: Jones identified it as a blatant attempt at mind games, assistant coach Scott Wisemantel laughed it off and captain Owen Farrell did his best to ignore it.

“If I grew tired of it, it would be bothering us,” Farrell said. “I don’t think it is bothering us whatsoever.

“Creevy played at Worcester for a good while, so he was obviously talking about the differences between what his set-up is now, compared to what it was then. But he also said that it worked. I don’t know. It doesn’t cross my mind, when we’re preparing for what’s in front of us.”

So are England boring? It is a question that stretches back as long as the memory does, an allegation usually generated by the Welsh or French or All Blacks who believe historically that they play a more attractive brand of rugby than the English. That would maybe stick a little more if England hadn’t scored at an average of more than 36 points per game this year – including putting 32 and 57 points past Ireland.

England definitely have a style of rugby that they look to stick to, and through that and the big-pressure moments that have cost them during this four-year cycle it is far to argue if it is the right style, but to claim they are boring is unfair.

“We obviously have a structure and we play a certain way, but at the same time we want to play what is in front of us, move the ball to space, score tries, kick to the corner and do whatever is on. That’s the way we like to play rugby,” added Farrell.

“Our game is that we are a pretty physical team that can also play. Hopefully we can do things a number of ways.”

England will try to use a tight gameplan early before exposing Argentina’s weaknesses – which despite all of the talk could well prove to be in the scrum. Ledesma has not had long to address what was a problem position in the Rugby Championship, and although there were notable signs of improvement against France and Tonga, neither have been a match for England when playing them this year.

What the Pumas do have in their corner though is the undeniable passion that fuels their every move on a rugby pitch. Jones is well aware of this, and though he is never one to shy away from fighting fire with fire, he understands that it is a case of finding the best way possible to use that against Argentina themselves.

“We can’t be seduced by Argentina’s state,” Jones added. “We know they play with a lot of pride and a lot of passion and that will be multiplied by the fact they are in a game that’s very important to them.

“So that allows us to try and take away their strengths – it is pretty clear how they will play by the side they have picked – and then try and attack their weaknesses.

“Rugby is a tough physical game. We have seen that already at this World Cup. The passion and pride come down to the toughness of your play. But then there’s emotional control because when you have a lot of passion and pride, it tends to multiply your strengths and multiply your weaknesses.”

England would settle for a boring victory on Saturday if it means quarter-final qualification with a game to spare, but expect them to on a number of occasions show that they can play a bit of rugby too. It’s simply about how much they want to show that message, as if they fall into the trap of running it too often or failing to convert penalty kicks to the corner instead of at goal, Argentina are good enough to pick them off, and if they do, the questions of England’s big-game mentality return immediately.

“It’s a bit like a tea bag isn’t it? You don’t know good it is until you put it in hot water,” Jones said. On Saturday, he finally gets his answer.