England and Argentina are set for a bruising encounter in their Pool B World Cup opener today, with neither side getting the luxury of a “warm-up” match against underdogs Georgia or Romania. Instead the group’s seemingly two strongest sides — although Scotland, who have always reached the World Cup quarter-finals, will have something to say about that — meet first up.
This match could determine the pool winners who, should New Zealand top their pool, will then avoid the All Blacks until the final.
England manager Martin Johnson, bidding to become the first man to win the World Cup as both player and a coach, said: “This is it now, this is the real thing. The whole world is here. It is where you want to be.”
Photo: Reuters
Four years ago England, without Johnson in a playing or coaching capacity, started the 2007 World Cup with an unconvincing win against the US and were then thrashed 36-0 by South Africa, before recovering to finish runners-up after a 15-6 loss to the Springboks in the final.
Argentina, by contrast, were out of the blocks straight away, stunning hosts France in their opener and defeating Les Bleus again to finish third.
“They do what they do very well, but they’ve got more dimensions to them than is sometimes made out in the media,” Johnson said of an Argentina team renowned for its strong scrum.
England, however, know they must match Argentina up front, having been overpowered last season by reigning champions South Africa and Ireland.
“Nobody wants to give an inch, and we have to match that so we don’t suffer the same way as the French four years ago,” England prop Dan Cole said.
England rely on a solid pack to secure enough possession that enables record points scorer Jonny Wilkinson to keep kicking scores.
However, they have struggled against well-organized defenses thanks to a lack of a cutting edge in midfield.
However, it appears the arrival of dynamic Samoa-born center Manu Tuilagi, who has scored a try in each of his two Tests, might have come just in time for England, who boast a trio of survivors from the team that started the 2003 final in Wilkinson, center Mike Tindall and hooker Steve Thompson.
The Pumas have lost influential scrum-half Agustin Pichot, powerful forward Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, full-back Ignacio Corleto, No. 8 Gonzalo Longo and fly-half Juan Martin Hernandez, recently ruled out with a knee injury, from their celebrated 2007 team.
However, in veteran skipper Felipe Contepomi, who spent two seasons with Wilkinson at Toulon before his move to rival French club Stade Francais, Argentina too have an accomplished goalkicker.
Both Contepomi and veteran hooker Mario Ledesma are appearing in their fourth World Cup.
Argentina, though, have played just one Test — a 28-13 defeat by Wales last month — this year and it might be hard for the side to match the achievements of four years ago.
“We think for this moment it’s the best team we have,” Argentina coach Santiago Phelan said.
“England has a complete game, good set pieces and they play very well with the ball. They are also very organized in defense,” Phelan said. “We are just thinking about the little things we can do but we know we are playing against a very complete team.”
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