Heyes admits England changing room was 'loud enough for me to leave' after Contepomi's respect row

England tighthead prop Joe Heyes has acknowledged that his side’s post-match changing room in Santiago del Estero was loud enough to drive him out, lending credence to Argentina head coach Felipe Contepomi’s accusation of a “lack of respect” following the Pumas’ 31-24 defeat in July.

Contepomi cut short his press conference after the match, visibly irritated by the music and cheering audible from England’s dressing room next door. Speaking on the For the Love of Rugby podcast alongside former Leicester Tigers team-mates Ben Youngs and Dan Cole, Heyes reflected candidly on the scene.

“I get quite over-stimulated in loud changing rooms, and I went to the shower and had a moment to myself because the season was over and it was loud,” Heyes said. “A lot of Olivia Dean and dancing — it’s a new era of changing rooms now. Dancing is OK, not in my time. It was loud enough for me to leave. I think at the time it was Henry Pollock controlling the music.”

The changing-room episode was far from the only flashpoint of a fractious tour. Earlier in the week, Pollock was filmed goading Argentine fans from the team bus as it drove through the streets of Buenos Aires — footage that spread rapidly online. Heyes said he tried to intervene before the situation escalated.

“I’m in front of him and I’m like, ‘Pollock, stop, man, you’re going to piss people off,’ and he just kept on doing it,” Heyes recalled. “And then the big crowd of people — he starts doing it, and I’m like, ‘Ah, no.’ They were filming it, and I literally got to my hotel room, scrolling on TikTok, it’s just there — emoting on Fortnite. All these people who haven’t got a clue who we are, just a rugby team. But yeah, that made things worse.”

The broader context of the series was already charged long before the squad landed in South America. Tom Curry’s contentious late tackle on an Argentina player at Allianz Stadium in November had soured relations, while political tensions and the memory of Argentina’s football World Cup semi-final victory over England added further edge. The match itself descended into farce at times — a brawl broke out in the opening minutes, seven yellow cards were shown across the contest, and the game ended with a disallowed Pumas try that incensed the home side.

Heyes’s comments are the most direct acknowledgement from within the England camp that the post-match celebrations, however jubilant, may have crossed a line of sporting courtesy.