England rugby squad hides team kit in Buenos Aires ahead of football World Cup semi-final

England’s rugby squad are keeping a low profile in Buenos Aires this week, deliberately avoiding team-branded kit in public as the city braces for Argentina’s FIFA World Cup semi-final against Thomas Tuchel’s England side.

Steve Borthwick’s squad are based in the Argentinian capital until Thursday, when they travel north to Santiago del Estero for their final Nations Championship match of a 25,000-mile July tour. With football fever running high around them, players have been taking a cautious approach to their movements — though no additional security measures have been required.

“Bearing in mind where we are and who we’re playing, we’ve been pretty sensible about not wearing our England shirts around too much,” second row Alex Coles said. “We had them all out in Liverpool after the Fiji game last weekend and got a bit of a better reception than we might do here.”

Wing Tommy Freeman, who will face Argentina at Estadio Unico Madre de Ciudades on Saturday, is under no illusions about what a football victory could mean for the mood inside the stadium. “We’ll see how hostile it gets here,” the British and Irish Lions back said. “It’s big for Argentina and us and being here it’s heightened massively. I think they’ll probably be angry if we win the semi-final, so Saturday could be a tough game. We know they’re a passionate country. We are too and they’ll want to compete to the fullest and we’ll be ready for that.”

The squad plan to watch the football from their team hotel, aware that the result will set the tone for their own contest days later. England’s rugby players head into the match having already lost all five of their last five meetings with the Pumas, a record that underlines the scale of the task regardless of the football backdrop.

Coles, an Arsenal supporter, added a personal dimension to the football crossover, having briefly spoken with Tuchel when the Three Lions head coach visited England’s rugby camp in March. “It was really interesting to have a small chat with him and pick his brains about how he thinks about the game,” Coles said. “He’s a pragmatist, but he’s also very good at motivating his players. As an Englishman, you want to think that hard work and determination is part of our national psyche — and then you have the quality of Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane as well. And Bukayo Saka — as an Arsenal fan I’ll give him a shout out.”