No start for Pollock as Borthwick opts for consistency
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Henry Pollock was once more left among the replacements as England coach Steve Borthwick named an unchanged starting team for Saturday’s Nations Championship clash against Argentina in Santiago del Estero.
Northampton flanker Pollock came off the bench to score a hat-trick of tries in just 32 minutes during last week’s 73-8 rout of Fiji in Liverpool.
But even that display was not enough to persuade Borthwick to start Pollock in place of Ben Earl at No.8 despite several former England internationals, including Jeremy Guscott, calling for the 21-year-old to be included in the run-on 15 to play the Pumas.
Borthwick has also retained the midfield combination of Seb Atkinson and Henry Slade, with Benhard Janse van Rensburg continuing on the bench having made his debut last week.
The only changes to England’s matchday 23 are on the bench, where scrumhalf Ben Spencer comes in for Alex Mitchell, ruled out with a hamstring injury, and Emmanuel Iyogun is preferred ahead of George Kloska.
England suffered a comprehensive 21-45 defeat by world champions South Africa in their Nations Championship opener.
But they go into the final game of the July leg of the tournament buoyed by an 11-try thrashing of Fiji that ended a five-match losing streak.
Argentina launched their Nations Championship campaign with a shock 38-47 loss at home to Scotland before beating Wales 35-21 last week.
“We expect a fantastic atmosphere with passionate home support,” said former England captain Borthwick. “It promises to be a great occasion, and one the players are excited to embrace.”
England: 15 Marcus Smith, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Guy Pepper, 6 Ollie Chessum, 5 George Martin, 4 Alex Coles, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Jamie George (captain), 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Emmanuel Iyogun, 18 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 19 Tom Curry, 20 Henry Pollock, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 23 Noah Caluori
Date: Saturday, July 18
Venue: Estadio Unico Madre de Ciudades, Santiago del Estero
Kick-off: 16.10 ART (20.10 BST; 19.10 GMT)
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant referees: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia), Paul Williams (New Zealand)
TMO: Brett Cronan (Australia)
