Nations Championship: Jamie George captains unchanged England for Argentina clash | Rugby Union News
Jamie George will captain England in an unchanged starting XV to face Argentina in the Nations Championship as players continue to avoid wearing national shirts in Buenos Aires.
George captains the side and will earn his 113th England cap, moving into fourth on the all-time list of England men’s most-capped players.
Head coach Steve Borthwick has made two changes to the replacements, with Ben Spencer and uncapped loosehead prop Emmanuel Iyogun coming into the matchday 23 on the bench.
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Head coach Steve Borthwick discusses how he shapes team culture within the England rugby side
Ellis Genge and Ollie Chessum are named as vice-captains for the clash in Santiago del Estero (kick-off 8.10pm BST).
“We’re excited by the challenge of playing Los Pumas in Santiago del Estero,” said Borthwick.
“We expect a fantastic atmosphere with passionate home support. It promises to be a great occasion, and one the players are excited to embrace.”
The squad were in Buenos Aires during Wednesday’s FIFA World Cup semi-final between England and Argentina.
The squad wore England jerseys in support of the football team for last Saturday’s quarter-final against Norway, but did so in Liverpool after defeating Fiji earlier in the day.
“I think, bearing in mind where we are and who we’re playing with, we’ve been pretty sensible about not wearing our English shirts around too much,” lock Alex Coles told The Telegraph.
“We had them all out in Liverpool and got a bit of a better reception than we might do here.
“I definitely love my football. I think there’s a fair bunch of us that do. We watched the previous game after our game at the weekend, on in a rooftop bar in Liverpool, and it was very cool. Everyone was getting very excited.
“We’re very proud to represent our country playing rugby, and I think that translates to real excitement around watching England in any sport, and World Cup fever – it is sort of like no other with the football, isn’t it?
“It captures the imagination of the globe in a way that no other sport can. It’s really special, and I think it’s the sport that I grew up watching first before rugby and cricket, football was the thing I was obsessed with.”
England: 15. Marcus Smith, 14. Tommy Freeman, 13. Henry Slade, 12. Seb Atkinson, 11. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 10. Fin Smith, 9. Jack van Poortvliet, 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Jamie George (c), 3. Joe Heyes, 4. Alex Coles, 5. George Martin, 6. Ollie Chessum, 7. Guy Pepper, 8. Ben Earl.
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.
2026 Nations Championship summer fixtures – all kick-off times BST
July 4
- New Zealand 34-32 France
- Japan 27-10 Italy
- Australia 31-33 Ireland
- Fiji 24-39 Wales
- South Africa 45-21 England
- Argentina 38-47 Scotland
July 11
July 18
- New Zealand vs Ireland (8.10am)
- Japan vs France (9.40am)
- Australia vs Italy (11.10am)
- Fiji vs Scotland (2.10pm)
- South Africa vs Wales (4.40pm)
- Argentina vs England (8.10pm)
