No surprises: England face fear factor of familiarity against Argentina

Six of Pumas’ starting XV ply their trade in the Premiership and England know exactly how good Julián Montoya can be

In professional rugby, fear of the unknown has been replaced by an even scarier phenomenon – knowledge that your opponent might just be better. Where early World Cups were filled with surprise results – most notably two different iterations of Samoa stunning Wales – there is now so much footage of even the lowest-ranked nations that analysts can pore over hours of tape of their opposition.

For England in Marseille on Saturday evening, Argentina will provide little surprise, with six of their starting XV plying their trade in the Premiership and another four on the bench. The problem for England is that they know exactly how good Julián Montoya, the Pumas captain, can be. After all, he was the heartbeat of the Leicester side that Steve Borthwick, the England coach, led to the title last summer. Meanwhile every outside back in England got a glimpse of the electric feet of Mateo Carreras, the Newcastle Falcons winger.

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