Borthwick names unchanged England XV to face Argentina with Iyogun set for debut

Steve Borthwick has named an unchanged England starting XV for Saturday’s Nations Championship round-three fixture against Argentina in Santiago del Estero, retaining the same fifteen that dismantled Fiji 73-8 at the Hill Dickinson Stadium seven days ago.

England’s run of five Tests without a win ended emphatically last week, with the side running in 11 tries against a charitable Fiji outfit. Despite five of those tries coming from the replacements bench — including a hat-trick from Henry Pollock — Borthwick has resisted calls to hand the 21-year-old a starting berth, keeping faith with the same combination that delivered such a commanding result.

The only changes come on the bench. Asher Opoku-Fordjour reverts to the tighthead replacement role he occupied in round one against South Africa, which opens the door for Northampton Saints loosehead Emmanuel Iyogun to earn his first England cap. Last week, Opoku-Fordjour had covered loosehead, allowing Bristol Bears’ George Kloska to make his debut at tighthead.

There is also one enforced alteration in the matchday 23: Ben Spencer comes in after Alex Mitchell suffered a hamstring injury against Fiji, an issue that saw Marcus Smith drop back to scrumhalf for the final quarter of that match.

“We’re excited by the challenge of playing Los Pumas in Santiago del Estero,” said Borthwick. “We expect a fantastic atmosphere with passionate home support. It promises to be a great occasion, and one the players are excited to embrace.”

Former Wales fly-half Dan Biggar has backed Borthwick’s handling of Pollock, suggesting the back-row is well suited to an impact role from the bench at this stage of his Test career.

England XV: 15. Marcus Smith (Harlequins), 14. Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints), 13. Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs), 12. Seb Atkinson (Gloucester Rugby), 11. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs); 10. Fin Smith (Northampton Saints), 9. Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers); 1. Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears), 2. Jamie George (captain, Saracens), 3. Joe Heyes (Leicester Tigers), 4. Alex Coles (Northampton Saints), 5. George Martin (Saracens), 6. Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers), 7. Guy Pepper (Bath Rugby), 8. Ben Earl (Saracens).

Replacements: 16. Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks), 17. Emmanuel Iyogun (Northampton Saints), 18. Asher Opoku-Fordjour (Sale Sharks), 19. Tom Curry (Sale Sharks), 20. Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints), 21. Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby), 22. Benhard Janse van Rensburg (Bristol Bears), 23. Noah Caluori (Saracens).