RWC Match Day Programme: Argentina vs England - Bronze Final

The penultimate fixture is upon us. After many did not give them a chance going into the tournament, England shocked many by advancing all the way to the semi-final, only to narrowly lose to the defending champion Springboks. On the other hand, after losing their opening fixture courtesy of the English. However, Los Pumas remained resilient to earn a second place finish in their pool, before upsetting Wales in the qaurter-finals ensuring a top 4 finish. Although both teams were not on the better end of their respective results last week, tonights fixture promises to be mouthwatering indeed as both nations fight for a third place finish. Thank You for Joining us, this is Ultimate Rugby Match Day, the Rugby World cup edition.

Fixture: Argentina vs England 

Venue: Stade de France, St. Dennis, France

Kickoff Time: 20:05 (GMT)

Referee: Nic Berry

Head-to-head Played:

Played: 26

England Wins: 20

South Africa Wins: 5

Draws: 1

Rugby World Cup Head-to-Head 

Played: 4

England Wins: 4

South Africa Wins: 0

Draws: 0

Points for:

England: 704

South Africa: 413 

Biggest winning margin:

England: 51 (3 November, 1990)

Last Meeting:  9 September 2023 (RWC) – England 27-10, Stade Vélodrome, Marseille, France

World Cup Results

Argentina

L 27-10  v England

W 19-10 v Samoa 

W 59-5 v Chile

W 39-27 v Japan

W 29-17 v Wales (Qaurter-Final)

L 44-6 v New Zealand (Sem-Final)

England

W 27-10 v Argentina

W 34-12 v Japan

W 71-0 v Chile

W 18-17 v Samoa

W 30-24 v Fiji (Qaurter-Final) 

L 15-16 v South Africa (Semi-Final)

Referee: Nic Berry (Australia)

Debut as Referee: 2016

Tests as Referee: 32

RWC Games as Referee: 7

• He becomes the first Australian to referee a Rugby World Cup bronze final since Peter Marshall in 1999 between South Africa and New Zealand.

• A former scrum-half, Nic Berry played 32 Super Rugby matches for the Queensland Reds between 2004-07, before going on to referee 71 matches in this competition.

• He represented Australia five times at U21 level, including playing against current Los Pumas hooker Agustín Creevy who started at flanker that day at the 2005 U21 World Championships in Argentina.

• This will be the seventh time he has refereed Argentina, including the second at RWC 2023 after their round three match against Samoa.

• This will be the fourth time he has refereed England, and the second at a Rugby World Cup after their 2019 pool match against USA in Kobe.

TEAM NEWS

Argentina: Head coach Michael Cheika has made three changes to his starting XV from last week’s loss to New Zealand, with Pedro Rubiolo replacing Tomas Lavanini in the second-row, Tomás Cubelli replacing Gonzalo Bertranou at scrum-half, and Jeronimo de la Fuente replacing Santiago Chocobares at inside-centre. He has named 19 players in the match-day team from the 23 who lost to England in the opening round – the only new faces are Pedro Rubiolo in the second-row, Facundo Isa at number eight, Jeronimo de la Fuente at inside-centre, Nicolas Sanchez on the bench. There are eight survivors named from their 2015 bronze final loss against South Africa in Tomás Cubelli, Nicolas Sanchez, Jeronimo de la Fuente, Matias Moroni, Facundo Isa, Matias Alemanno, Guido Petti and captain Julian Montoya. 

England: Head coach Steve Borthwick has made eight personnel changes to his starting XV following last weekend’s semi-final loss against South Africa, with five in the forward pack and three in the back-line. There is an all-new front row in Ellis Genge, Theo Dan and Will Stuart, with Stuart earning his first RWC start after playing three games off the bench. Ollie Chessum reunites with Maro Itoje in the second-row for the fifth tie at RWC 2023 after starting alongside each other against Argentina, Japan, Samoa and Fiji. Sam Underhill will play his first test for England since the second test against Australia in Brisbane on their 2022 tour. This will be his first RWC game since the 2019 final in Yokohama. Ben Youngs earns his first start at RWC 2023 after playing 53 minutes in total off the bench across two appearances. This will be the first time since the 2021 Six Nations

• Both teams remain unmoved on the World Rugby rankings powered by Capgemini with Argentina in seventh and England in fifth.

• Argentina will wear their away jersey for the second time at RWC 2023 after donning their alternate strip against Japan in their final pool match 

• There have been 320 tries scored so far at RWC 2023, only 12 fewer than the all-time record of 332 set at RWC 2003.

• England’s 17-point victory against Argentina in the opening pool round was only the second time they defeated Los Pumas without scoring a try following their 24-18 win in Durban at RWC 1995.

• This will be the first time since 2017 that they have played each other more than once in the same calendar year.

• Four of Los Pumas’ five victories against England have been narrow, by seven points or fewer. Their only double-figure winning margin came in 1997, winning 33-13 in Buenos Aires.